Today the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the latest data on Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2023, showing that there were 10,473 deaths from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK, the highest number on record.

Easington MP Grahame Morris, who is Chair of the Drugs, Alcohol and Justice APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) at Westminster, said:

“Another record number of deaths and once again the North East is the worst-affected area in England – and has actually now overtaken Scotland as the worst in Britain.

The statistics don’t tell the full trauma, as all these tragedies leave families in despair.

Also, yesterday (4 February) it was revealed that there are over a million alcohol-related hospital admissions a year in England. We’re facing a public health crisis that calls for concerted action.

I Chaired a meeting recently where Professor Sir Michael Marmot, an expert in health inequalities, told us starkly that ‘social injustice is killing on a grand scale,’ explaining how areas of greatest deprivation had suffered the severest funding cuts during austerity.”

Last year Grahame Morris called on the Government to introduce a comprehensive Alcohol Strategy without delay, to address the escalating alcohol harm crisis.

He also wrote (20 November 2024) to the Minister for Public Health about the growing crisis of alcohol harm, particularly in the North East, urging action to ease the pressure on the NHS and save “countless lives that are currently – and needlessly – being lost to alcohol in the UK.