How does minimum unit pricing for alcohol affect different types of drinkers?

Special focus III: The Scottish Government passed legislation in 2012 to introduce minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol. The law states that alcohol should not be sold below a price equivalent to 50 pence (EUR 0.615Exchange rate GBP 1 = EUR 1.23, May 29th 2014.) per unit of alcohol (a unit equals 10 ml of pure alcohol). This has not yet been implemented because a legal challenge is still going through the courts. The Irish Government is also interested in including MUP in its alcohol strategy. The UK Government consulted on MUP but has decided initially to pursue a restriction on below-cost selling – a ban on selling alcohol below a price equivalent to duty plus VAT. As alcohol duties are not levied strictly on alcohol content, this proposal would result in the lowest permitted price varying from 11p or less per unit of alcohol for lower strength still ciders to 42p per unit for higher strength sparkling ciders, with other alcoholic beverages falling between these extremes (Home Office, 2014).