SIR – Almost 10,000 people could die every year because of their drinking. Research from the University of the West of England shows that 90,800 people could die – avoidable deaths from alcohol-related causes – in the next decade if we continue to drink at the average rate of the past 15 years.

The new findings also show there has been a trebling of deaths from 3,054 in 1984 to 8,999 in 2008, as consumption has increased over the past 25 years.

The numbers include diseases directly caused by alcohol and alcohol poisoning, and do not include deaths caused indirectly by alcohol, such as those from drink-driving or cancers which have been caused in part by drinking. These chilling figures are a stark reminder of the shocking death toll caused by excess alcohol consumption.

The Government’s failure to invest in alcohol treatment services and their refusal to stop alcohol being sold at pocket-money prices is having a devastating impact on our health.

The high cost of cheap alcohol is becoming clearer every day. The Government must heed the advice of its own experts and introduce a minimum price for alcohol, otherwise the death toll will continue to rise and the NHS will be forced to pick up the bill.

Councillor Nader Fekri (Lib-Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Keighley and Ilkley), Hope Street, Hebden Bridge