Better Health For All

Campaigning does pay off — as we can see from the news that major supermarket chain Tesco is now backing the introduction of a mandatory minimum price for alcohol.

In the past six months the Faculty has taken a number of steps to raise awareness of the harm that alcohol is causing in Britain, and to make the case for the introduction of a minimum price for alcohol, and the benefits this would bring.

And we have made a difference. Scottish CMO Harry Burns thinks we have really helped bring awareness of the issue to the mainstream, and by doing that we have managed to get politicians more interested in this issue.

There were barriers: first off there was an initial reaction that by pushing up prices we were trying to punish the poorest; then there was an argument that a law would force small breweries or distilleries to close.

But slowly, slowly some of the health facts and messages have started to make a difference, and politicians, the media and the public have started to understand more about why minimum pricing would work.

Interestingly the new Coalition programme for government has mentioned a number of policy plans relating to alcohol pricing, so we look forward to seeing how they manifest themselves.

It looks like times, and opinions, are a-changing.