Table 1.

A Summary of Arguments for and Against Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP), Presented in Evidence Submission Documents to the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee

Themes	Arguments for Minimum Unit Pricing	Arguments Against Minimum Unit Pricing
Drinking patterns
Changes in strength of alcoholic drinks	Strength of alcoholic drinks may be reduced to allow prices to be lowered, hence encouraging the availability of low-strength drinks.	Strength of alcoholic drinks may be increased (or they may be marketed more heavily) as they become more profitable.
Moving to licensed premises	Moving to licensed premises (which is a safer regulated drinking environment) is encouraged as price differential is lessened.	Drinking at licensed premises is not necessarily safer than drinking at home.Changes in drink environment reflect culture changes, not price differential.
Inequalities
Regressive	Lower-income groups are less likely to buy alcohol, so this is not regressive.	Lower-income groups may no longer be able to afford alcohol.
	Alcohol contributes to health inequalities.
	Prices of nonalcohol products (which are healthier) may be reduced, as supermarkets no longer use alcohol as loss leaders.
Household impacts		Households with dependent drinkers may experience greater poverty if the dependent drinkers continue to consume the same amount of alcohol.
Economic implications
Job changes	MUP is unlikely to result in long-term job losses.	MUP may cause job losses in broad range of alcohol-related industries.
Economic impact	MUP may reduce work absence and result in economic gains.	MUP will hurt the economy because of its effect on alcohol-related industries.
Government revenue	Increased economic growth will help government revenue.	In contrast to government raising revenue from alcohol taxation, increased revenue from MUP will go to the private sector.
Alternatives
Price interventions	MUP has a greater effect on health than other price interventions.	Ban on below-cost sales or tax increases are less trade-restrictive and result in government revenue.
Nonprice interventions	Many nonprice interventions (especially education) are ineffective. Other interventions should be used alongside MUP.	Nonprice interventions, especially education, are necessary.
Alcohol market changes
Home brew, cross-border, and Internet sales	MUP is unlikely to result in large changes to home brew, cross-border, or Internet sales.	Home brew, cross-border, and Internet sales will increase because of MUP.
Black market and illegal alcohol	Illegal alcohol should be tackled by improved policing.	Sales of black market and illegal alcohol are increasing and will increase further.