Alcohol-related death figures see renewed minimum pricing call

Alcohol-related deaths surged by 10% as they returned to their highest level for six years.

There were 1,265 deaths last year, according to the National Records of Scotland figures, up by 115 on 2015.

It has led medics to demand a fresh drive to rehabilitate Scotland’s toxic relationship with drink.

In Fife, deaths from alcohol rose to 74 in 2016, from 62 the previous year. The number fell on Tayside from 100 to 80.

Peter Bennie, chair of the British Medical Association Scotland, said the “worrying” figures reinforce the need for a 50p minimum unit price on booze.

“It underlines why as a country we need to redouble our efforts to tackle the harms caused by alcohol misuse,” he said.

Dr Bennie said minimum pricing, a Scottish Government policy which is being challenged in the Supreme Court, has been “delayed far too long” by “big alcohol producers”.

However, the Scotch Whisky Association said the overall trend for alcohol deaths is downward.

Chief executive Karen Betts said they are committed to helping tackle alcohol misuse but insisted minimum pricing is not the way to do it and is a trade barrier which threatens Scots jobs.

Meanwhile, Scotland retains the title of having the lowest life expectancy in western Europe. It remained the same in the latest NRS figures – 81.1 for women and 77.1 for men – bringing an end to years of steady increase.

Separate figures from the Scottish Public Health Observatory, also released today, showed an 8% increase in suicides recorded over the past year.

There were 728 of the deaths in 2016, up from 672 the previous year.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, called for a new suicide prevention strategy, adding it is “shambolic” the old one has not been replaced.