THE Scottish government must take on big business if it is to tackle the highest number of alcohol-related deaths in over a decade, campaigners say.

Latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today show a deteriorating picture across Britain, with 10,048 people killed by alcohol in 2022 — 1,276 in Scotland, the highest since 2008.

The rise is partly being put down to a post-pandemic trend, which has seen deaths rise by around a third since 2019.