SUPPORT has been voiced for England to follow Scotland’s lead and introduce minimum alcohol pricing.

Scotland became the first country in the world to introduce the measure earlier this week and Blackburn with Darwen Council director of public health, Dominic Harrison, is in favour of it being adopted south of the border as well.

He said: “We have long supported this locally and as a council even passed a motion in 2013 urging the government to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol to tackle the health harms associated with excessive drinking and to help dwindling trade at traditional pubs.

"High levels of alcohol consumption is rapidly becoming one of our single biggest preventable causes of disease and early death as well as one of the main reasons for domestic violence and abuse. Minimum unit pricing is an effective solution which is backed up by research.”

The minimum 50p per unit price, delayed for six years by a legal challenge led by the Scotch Whisky Association, has been welcomed by medical professionals and health campaigners as the biggest breakthrough in public health since the ban on smoking in public.

It is estimated the move could save around 392 lives in the first five years of its implementation in Scotland, where on average there are 22 alcohol-specific deaths every week and 697 hospital admissions.

More than 1,000 lives could be lost if England fails to mirror Scotland's sweeping reforms to alcohol pricing within five years, campaigners have warned.

The misuse of alcohol is thought to cost Scotland £3.6 billion each year, or £900 for every adult in the country.

First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, said: "Scotland is the first country in the world that is being bold enough and brave enough to implement minimum unit pricing.

"The eyes of the world will very much be on Scotland, not just today but as the benefits of this policy start to be seen and felt.

"Already we see countries across the British Isles - Wales and Ireland - looking to follow suit and I'm sure that as the benefits of this policy start to be seen we'll see other countries elsewhere doing exactly that.

"All of the evidence says that minimum unit pricing will reduce deaths from alcohol-related illnesses, reduce hospital admissions and generally reduce the damage that alcohol misuse does to our society.

The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA), a group of more than 50 medical organisations including the British Medical Association, Royal College of GPs and Alcohol Concern, launched an intervention with the Children's Society and homelessness charity Thames Reach.

They said that a delay of five years could lead to more than 1,000 people dying in England from alcohol-related problems.

MUP would not affect bars and pubs in England, instead pushing up the price of cheap supermarket vodka and super-strength lagers which are popular with street drinkers and other vulnerable groups, the group said.