Pour one out for Mark Drakeford, new research shows his alcohol pricing policy – lifted straight from the Sturgeon playbook – has completely fizzled out. Despite promising that minimum alcohol pricing would save taxpayer money and reduce alcohol admissions and deaths, the opposite has happened. There have been more alcohol deaths in every year since the policy was introduced in 2019…

As if spirits weren’t already low enough, Labour pressed ahead with the costly policy, only hitting Welsh pockets harder during a cost-of-living crisis. Welsh Shadow Minister for Health, Russell George MS, said:

“The latest data about the effects of minimum unit alcohol pricing backs up claims that this failed Labour policy hasn’t worked. The purpose of minimum alcohol unit pricing was to save the taxpayer money but most importantly protect the general public from alcohol related abuse. Sadly, the number of people dying from alcohol related deaths has increased each year since the policy was introduced… The increasing number of stories about the negative effects of minimum unit alcohol pricing proves that Labour was wrong to ignore the laws of unintended consequences when they passed this law in Wales.”

Alcohol related issues cost the NHS £159 million per year…