THE Scottish Parliament goes into summer recess today, but my office remains open as normal.

I am organising my summer tour of meetings across the constituency and am looking forward to it again.

This week, research was published by Public Health Scotland which indicated that the introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) has saved lives, reduced hospital admissions and had a ‘positive impact’ on health.

This follows a study published in March by PHS and University of Glasgow showing MUP reduced alcohol consumption by three per cent, deaths directly caused by alcohol consumption by 13.4% and hospital admissions by 4.1 per cent compared to what would have happened if MUP had not been in place.

I am sure we will all welcome this situation. The debate around the introduction of the MUP was heated and tough to win. One of the fears at the time of passing of the legislation was the adverse effect it would have on Scotland’s alcohol industry. The introduction of the MUP has not damaged the industry. What MUP has done is to save lives.

As is wrote a couple of weeks ago, I led a debate regarding Liver Cancer and the adverse effects of over alcohol consumption. The British Liver Trust and other organisations are campaigning to see the MUP increase as it has not increased from the 50p per unit since it was introduced 5 years ago.

My debate had consensus across the Chamber with regards the seriousness and actions that we should consider. The Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament now have a decision to take going forward.

This morning, I asked the Scottish Government a question regarding the cost of football activity.

Whether it’s the contract with Viaplay to sign up to in order to watch the men’s international football matches or the cost of purchasing football kit, its clear that for many households, showing support for our men’s international team is cost prohibitive.

The Scottish Government quite rightly cannot step in and tell the Scottish Football Association (SFA) what to do but it can engage with them and try and encourage them to think about the fans first.

Continuing on the football theme, I’m sure readers were saddened with the death of the former international manager Craig Brown.

Greenock Telegraph:

Mr Brown was clearly so well regarded by many in football, judging by all the tributes that have taken place.

He brought success to our international team and was always a man who had great modesty. I’m sure our thanks but also thoughts are with Mr Brown’s family.

Rest in peace Craig Brown.

Finally, the Scottish Government published its latest paper in the series of designing an independent nation. It can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-constitution-paper-first-ministers-speech-19-june-2023/