Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP)

Wales has joined Scotland in having a minimum unit price for alcohol of 50p per unit.

Units are a simple way of expressing the quantity of pure alcohol in a drink.

One unit equals 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol, which is around the amount of alcohol the average adult can process in an hour. This means that within an hour there should be, in theory, little or no alcohol left in the blood of an adult, although this will vary from person to person. The number of units in a drink is based on the size of the drink, as well as its alcohol strength. Examples include

Small glass of red/white/rosé wine (125ml, ABV 12%) 1.5 units

Bottle of beer (330ml, ABV 5%) 1.7 units

Pint of lower-strength beer (ABV 3.6%) 2 units

Standard glass of red/white/rosé wine (175ml, ABV 12%) 2.1 units

Pint of higher-strength beer (ABV 5.2%) 3 units

Large glass of red/white/rosé wine (250ml, ABV 12%) 3 units

MUP is designed to impact most on harmful drinkers.  As you can see from the examples, charging £4.50 for a bottle of wine or £1.50 for a pint of beer will not impact most of us, but will help to protect pubs from “cheap booze” outlets.

I believe England should implement MUP.