Senedd passes new regulations to tackle alcohol misuse in Wales
Y Senedd yn pasio rheoliadau newydd i fynd i'r afael â chamddefnyddio alcohol yng Nghymru
A landmark policy to help reduce deaths and harm from excess alcohol use will be extended in Wales, following a vote in the Senedd.
Members of the Senedd today passed regulations to continue the minimum pricing for alcohol policy and to increase the minimum unit price from 50p to 65p – bringing it into line with the rate in Scotland.
Minimum pricing for alcohol is designed to tackle alcohol-related harm – including hospital admissions and deaths – by reducing alcohol consumption among hazardous and harmful drinkers.
Independent research commissioned by the Welsh Government has found that increasing the minimum unit price to 65p could prevent more than 900 alcohol-related deaths over 20 years and reduce the number of harmful drinkers by nearly 5,000.
Following the vote in the Senedd, Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Sarah Murphy, said: “Cheap, high-strength alcohol disproportionately affects hazardous and harmful drinkers. The evidence is clear – minimum unit pricing works.
“We have today taken a decision which will save lives and help protect many people from the harms caused by drinking too much alcohol.”
Alcohol Change UK’s Director for Wales, Andrew Misell, welcomed the policy continuation, saying: "Inflation has steadily eroded the impact of the minimum unit price since it was introduced in 2020. This increase restores the policy's effectiveness and ensures it can continue to reduce the availability of the cheapest, strongest alcohol that causes the most harm."
Minimum unit pricing was originally introduced in Wales in March 2020 when the Public Health (Minimum Unit Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018 came into force. The Act contained a sunset clause, which meant minimum unit pricing would have ended on 1 March 2026, if the Senedd had not voted to extend the policy.
The price change regulations will come into effect from 1 October 2026.
Notes to editors
- The modelling data provided by SARG suggests raising the MUP to 65p per unit – this is the level the Scottish MUP is currently set at – could reduce the number of hazardous drinkers by 6,363 and harmful drinkers by 4,906, while potentially increasing the number of moderate drinkers by 11,270. In comparison, allowing the sunset clause to take effect is estimated to lead to an immediate increase in the number of hazardous (+461) and harmful (+959) drinkers, with a corresponding reduction in the number of moderate drinkers of (-1420).
- In relation to reducing alcohol related mortality it would lead to an estimated 902 fewer alcohol-caused deaths, including 628 fewer alcohol-specific deaths, over a 20-year period. In the first year alone, there would be 22 fewer alcohol-related deaths.
- The current 50p per unit rate threshold has become relatively ineffective at increasing the prices of the cheapest alcohol products. As was noted in the independent evaluations, the period of persistently high inflation high inflation post-pandemic in particular has contributed to the erosion of the value of the MUP in real terms. Using the CPIH index, the effect of inflation between 2020 and 2026 is equivalent to the 50p MUP falling to 39p in 2020 prices.