Context - Alcohol harm in England is at record levels, and rising. The costs to society are estimated to be a staggering £27bn per year. It costs NHS England at least £4.9bn per year , and if consumption does not return to pre-pandemic levels, it could cost an additional £1.2 billion by 2035. The negative impacts of alcohol are felt by families, communities, public services and workplaces. The need for bold, effective and evidence-based policies to reverse this worrying trend and save lives is now critical.

Policy solutions and obstacles - The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends policies that tackle the price, availability and marketing of alcohol to reduce its harms. Minimum unit pricing (MUP) is a policy that tackles harmful alcohol by setting a floor price under which a unit of alcohol cannot be sold. Within the UK, MUP has been implemented in Scotland and Wales, with evaluations demonstrating significant positive impacts. These include reducing alcohol-specific deaths, hospitalisations, and health inequalities.

The aim of this report - Divided stakeholder opinions, opposition from key alcohol industry voices, cost implications for consumers, and wider public unpopularity are arguments often cited when UK governments have decided against MUP in England. This contrasts with growing evidence of MUP’s efficacy in addressing harms (particularly alcohol-specific deaths which reduced 13.4% in Scotland ), alongside public support for policies that improve health and reduce public spending. This report collated publicly available stakeholder positions on MUP in the UK to build a clearer picture of support and opposition, major reasons why, and whether MUP is as polarising as portrayed.

Key findings - 325 UK and international organisational positions on introducing MUP within the UK spanning 2010 to August 2025 were analysed. Across all 325:

• 89% (n=288) expressed support for MUP 8% (n=27) opposed the policy
• 3% (n=10) were neutral or undecided Of the 27 that opposed MUP,
• 85% (n=23) were alcohol industry or industry-funded bodies.

When narrowed down to UK-operating organisations only (n=298), 89% supported MUP (n=264), with 8% (n=25) opposed and 3% (n=9) neutral/undecided...