Minimum alcohol pricing ruled legal by UK supreme court

The UK supreme court has ruled that the introduction of a minimum price for alcoholic drinks is legal, despite an appeal by a Scottish whisky group.

The Scotch Whisky Association had led a five-year battle in the courts to prevent the Scottish government from introducing the price cap.

Nicola Sturgeon and her ruling Scottish National Party have argued for years that an alcohol price cap would be of major benefit to the public health system.

The supreme court’s ruling will allow Sturgeon’s government and its counterpart in Wales to introduce the cap, thought to be 50p per unit.

Legislation was approved by the Scottish Parliament five years ago for the cap, but the court challenges have held up its implementation.

UK health minister Jeremy Hunt is now likely to come under pressure to do the same.

Sturgeon tweeted that she was "delighted" that the supreme court upheld the introduction of the price cap.

"This has been a long road - and no doubt the policy will continue to have its critics - but it is a bold and necessary move to improve public health," Sturgeon said.

The SWA had claimed that there were several other ways which pricing could be used to tackle health problems related to alcohol.

It added that alternative pricing measures would be less disruptive to free trade and cause less distortion of competition across the EU single market.