Alcohol harms: the UK government is missing in action

This autumn the UK government has initiated two public consultations on alcohol policy. The first is about labelling of no alcohol and low alcohol products, proposing to increase the amount of alcohol permitted to be described as “alcohol free” 10-fold to 0.5%.1 The second concerns clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment services,2 which follow the restoration of funding to the alcohol treatment system3 and will apply across the UK.

Approaches to alcohol policy have varied considerably in the UK. After lengthy opposition by industry, the Scottish government implemented a minimum unit price on alcohol in 20184 and is consulting on continuation and raising the price.5 A minimum unit price exists in Wales but not in Northern Ireland. In England, the policy remains under review, as it has been since 2013.

The Scottish government recently consulted on restricting alcohol marketing.6 Industry self-regulation is currently the norm. The conflict of interest this entails is evident, with the Northern Ireland self-regulatory body encouraging some undefined notion of responsible consumption …