Only treatment proven to limit dependence

At a meeting of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on Tuesday, eight MSPs on the committee voted in favour of an increase to the minimum unit price of alcohol (MUP) and the two Tory representatives voted against.

The increase will now be put before the whole chamber before it is passed.

Opponents have questioned data on the impact of the policy, with alcohol-related deaths in 2022 at the highest level since 2008, but Christina McKelvie stressed the move should not be treated as a “silver bullet”.

“No single intervention in issues as complex as alcohol harm would be,” she said.

Speaking against the move, Scottish Tory health spokesman Sandesh Gulhane said: “Whilst the minister has spoken many times to say this is not the silver bullet, it’s nuanced and there’s lots of other things that need to be done, the facts are nothing else is being done – this is the government’s silver bullet.

“This is the only thing that they seem to be doing when it comes to the area of alcohol.

“We simply need to see more treatment occurring, because that is proven to reduce people’s dependence on alcohol, it’s also proven to reduce deaths and improve lives and save lives.”

He also urged the Scottish Government to back his party’s Right to Recovery Bill.

The minister, Christina McKelvie, rejected the claim nothing else was being done.

The increase may also become a regular feature of minimum unit pricing, according to the minister, who said officials in her department were at the early stages of considering an annual increase to the rate which would be linked to an inflationary index.