The Welsh Government is consulting on both maintaining the Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol in Wales beyond March 2026 and raising the unit price from 50p to 65p.
Minimum Unit Pricing was introduced in Wales in March 2020 to tackle harmful drinking, targeting high-strength alcohol sold at low cost and consumed in large volumes. The policy focuses on reducing consumption among harmful drinkers, rather than those who drink moderately.
The country’s Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Sarah Murphy, noted that the current rate of 50p per unit has been eroded by inflation and is no longer significantly influencing the price of the cheapest alcohol products.
“Since we brought minimum unit pricing into place, there has been a pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and high inflation,” she said.
“Despite all of these, research through independent evaluations has shown the policy, which is not a tax, has had a positive impact and has helped reduce levels of harmful drinking.
“We’re consulting on raising the level as high inflation has made the 50p rate ineffective and reduced its value in real terms to 39p in 2020 prices.
“Due to this, it is no longer significantly influencing the price of the cheapest alcohol, and we need to review it.”
Retailers, suppliers and other stakeholders have until 29th September to respond to the consultation.
