Wales Kicks 0ff MUP Awareness Campaign
Wales kicks off Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) awareness campaign to remind shoppers and sellers of the law which will come into action from March 2, 2020.
MUP was passed by the National Assembly in late 2019 with implementation to start from March 2, 2020. According to the law, alcohol can not be sold below the minimum price of 50p per unit. Impact Assessment of MUP in Wales found this measure would:
- Lead to 66 fewer alcohol-attributable deaths and 1,281 fewer alcohol-attributable hospital admissions per year.
- Be worth £783m to the Welsh economy in terms of the reduction in alcohol-related illness, crime and workplace absence over 20 years.
MUP in Scotland is already showing promising results of reducing alcohol harm by reducing alcohol consumption.
The Welsh MUP was initially objected by Portugal claiming breach of EU free-trade laws. Portugal was one of the EU countries who were against MUP in Scotland as well. Despite the delay due to this objection, the law has withstood and will start implementation from March.
The awareness campaign for MUP will place adverts on social media, radio and online. The main target are the retailers to educate on the formula to calculate MUP for alcoholic products.
England and Northern Ireland can also benefit from implementing MUP as alcohol harm in the United Kingdom is rising with over 7000 deaths caused by alcohol.
