THINK TANK CLAIMS ‘NO ROBUST EVIDENCE’ FOR SNP BANNING ALCOHOL ADS

advertising in Scotland.

The SNP-Greens Government had previously been consulting on plans which would have halted drinks firms from sponsoring sport and live events, and which would have prevented distillery and brewery shops from selling branded merchandise to visitors.

When he took over as First Minister, Mr Yousaf said he backed the aim of the measures “to reduce the harm caused by alcohol to children”, but accepted that the proposals had caused “real concern”.

As a result, the FM said he had instructed Scottish Government staff to “take these ideas back to the drawing board, work with the industry, and crucially with public health stakeholders, to agree a new set of proposals”.

There is “no robust evidence” in favour of the Scottish Government introducing a ban on alcohol advertising, new research has insisted.

he Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) think tank released its paper after First Minister Humza Yousaf pledged to go “back to the drawing board” after an outcry from the drinks industry over previous proposals to curb alcohol

The IEA paper set out to examine the “empirical evidence” for alcohol advertising bans.

And while it said public health campaigners “claim that a ban on alcohol advertising would reduce alcohol-related harm”, the report stated that “there is no robust evidence in favour of alcohol advertising bans”.