News

Alcohol and Party Manifestos

by Sophie Bridger, AFS Policy Manager

On 7^th May people across the country will head to the polls to elect the next Scottish Parliament. All the main parties have now published their manifestos setting out their policies and priorities for the next parliamentary term.

Alcohol Focus Scotland has worked hard behind the scenes to engage with parties and input into the development of their policies on alcohol – and we recently published our own manifesto setting out the policies we believe the next Government should adopt to tackle Scotland’s ongoing alcohol health emergency.

Our message is simple – ‘No More Half Measures: Time to get serious about alcohol harm’.

Our manifesto details six key actions we believe are essential to reduce alcohol harm in Scotland, including restricting alcohol marketing, introducing mandatory health warning labels, automatic uprating of the minimum unit price, licensing reform, expanding early detection of liver disease and greater investment in treatment and support.

We’ve worked through the detail of each manifesto to see which parties have committed to support policies that will reduce alcohol harms and save lives.

Positives

We’re really pleased to see some of our policy asks have been adopted by many of the main parties. The exceptions are Reform UK, whose manifesto made no mention of alcohol or other drugs; and the Conservatives, who intend to oppose some of our key policy asks.

It’s great to see that the Scottish Greens, Scottish Labour, the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have all committed to retaining the minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol – with the Greens and the Liberal Democrats committing to increasing this in line with inflation. The Scottish Conservatives have said they would scrap the policy – despite it being one of the most successful public health policies implemented by the Scottish Parliament.

On alcohol marketing, only the Greens have committed to action – with plans for an outdoor advertising and sports sponsorship ban – whilst the Conservatives again intend to oppose any marketing restrictions. Alcohol marketing has been shown to lead children and young people to drink earlier and more, so reducing alcohol marketing is a key part of our Alcohol-Free Childhood Campaign.

The Greens and Labour have both committed to recouping additional revenues from MUP, made by large shops and supermarkets, to invest in alcohol treatment and support. This would help ensure that that companies profiting from the sale of alcohol pay for some of the harm those products cause, which seems only fair.

On treatment and support, Labour, the Conservatives, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats have all indicated they would seek to expand access to and/or investment in treatment and support in some way. This is particularly welcome given the recent Audit Scotland report confirming a decline in those accessing alcohol treatment over the course of a decade.

We welcome commitments from both the SNP (pilot) and Labour (full introduction to introduce Alcohol Care Teams in hospitals – one of the main calls we made alongside more than 70 other organisations in our campaign for urgent action on alcohol harm in 2025.

The Greens were the only party to commit to licensing reform, or the introduction of mandatory health warning labels. Mandatory health warning labels would give consumers the information they need to make informed decisions on their health. Presently, this is voluntary, and Big Alcohol companies have so far preferred to keep consumers in the dark about the links between alcohol and cancer.

Negatives

Whilst there were some sporadic and welcome commitments – broadly speaking a focus on alcohol harm prevention was regrettably absent (outside of the Greens who listed a comprehensive menu of prevention policies).

Many of the manifestos focus on boosting economic growth. Improving Scotland’s population health, including tackling the alcohol health emergency, will be essential in realising this ambition. Recent work by the Institute of Alcohol Studies demonstrates that alcohol harm prevention policies could support economic growth as well as deliver substantial health benefits.

It’s disappointing to see that the Conservatives call to overturn minimum unit pricing, which has saved hundreds of lives and averted thousands of hospital admissions since it was enacted. MUP is surely the most successful public health policy introduced in Scotland outside of the ban on smoking in public places. Rather than relitigating arguments around MUP, we should be building on its success by ensuring minimum price is uprated in line with inflation.

Equally disappointing is their noted intent to actively oppose alcohol marketing restrictions, especially in light of Public Health Scotland’s evidence review last year which found that alcohol marketing fuels drinking and related harms, including among children and young people.

Having adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – the Scottish Government now has a legal duty to protect children from the harmful effects of alcohol marketing.

It’s disappointing to see no clear mention of alcohol harm prevention (including marketing restrictions) in the SNP manifesto. Given the current Scottish Government’s committment to an alcohol harm prevention plan in March’s Alcohol and Drug Strategy we can only infer that they chose not to prioritise these asks in their manifesto.

Once again with the exception of the Green Party, a lack of commitment to licensing reform and reducing the easy availability of alcohol is one of the major missing pieces across the manifestos. The more places there are to buy alcohol, the greater the levels of consumption and harm.

In this context we do not welcome a commitment from Labour to expand the ‘pilots’ of selling alcohol at football stadiums. . Introducing alcohol to our stadiums risks making both the matchday experience and our nation’s health worse.

Given a commitment from the UK Government to proceed with mandatory health warning labels in their 10-year health plan – we hope that a lack of detail on labelling reflects only acceptance that this will happen rather than a lack of intent.

Conclusions

Alcohol deaths in Scotland remain near record highs, with over 50 people dying because of alcohol each week. One in five Scots are still drinking at levels potentially harmful to our health.Scotland requires a radical step change in how we approach our ongoing alcohol health emergency – not more half measures.

It’s great to see some of our key policy asks included across most of the main parties’ manifestos – but given what hasn’t been said, it’s unclear whether there is agreement on the broad suite of measures required to finally turn the tide on Scotland’s alcohol problem. We cannot afford for Parliament to be polarised on one of Scotland’s biggest public health issues – building consensus around clear evidence is absolutely essential.

Alcohol Focus Scotland will continue to make our case that the next Scottish Government needs to get serious about tackling alcohol harm. Regardless of who is elected parties will need to find a way to work together and we will endeavour to develop that consensus across the political spectrum.

You can read each of the main parties’ manifestos below:

Reform UK

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

Scottish Green Party

Scottish Labour Party

Scottish Liberal Democrats

Scottish National Party