Scottish ministers have taken a tougher line than anticipated on alcohol abuse by fixing their planned minimum price for alcohol at 50p a unit, pushing up the cost of cheap vodka by nearly 50%.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, signalled that she plans to confront the alcoholism and binge drinking endemic in some parts of Scotland by introducing a minimum price which is higher and more wide-ranging than the 45p she had previously planned.

Unveiling the most radical health policy yet proposed by the Scottish National party government in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said: "Cheap alcohol comes at a price and now is the time to tackle the toll that Scotland's unhealthy relationship with alcohol is taking on our society. Too many Scots are drinking themselves to death."

The new minimum price of 50p a unit will push the price of the cheapest bottles of wine to £4.69, while four cans of basic lager will cost at least £3.52. Tesco's own brand basic vodka will rise in price from £8.72 to £13.13, while Tesco own brand basic whisky will now cost 40% more, at £14.

It is the first time minimum pricing has been tried in the European Union, and the policy is expected to be passed overwhelmingly by the Scottish parliament after the Tories and Liberal Democrats swung behind the proposal earlier this year.

The two opposition parties changed tack shortly before David Cameron, the prime minister, confirmed the UK government will also look at minimum pricing across England and Wales in a consultation due out later this year.

After resisting it for four years, Scottish Labour is also preparing to support the policy if Alex Salmond's government presses on with plans for a £130m "health levy" on supermarkets to claw back the £125m increase in their revenues from a 50p minimum price.

Sturgeon's decision to set a 50p floor price, which is expected to face legal challenges in the Scottish and European courts, will heavily influence Cameron's proposal to start with a 40p floor price for England and Wales.

After first suggesting 35p in 2008 and then 45p in 2010, Sturgeon shifted ground after experts on alcohol pricing at Sheffield university said in January that inflation and a drop in alcohol misuse meant only a 50p cost would have a significant impact now.

Researchers at the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) said that in 2010 a floor price of 45p would have saved 50 lives in the first year, and 225 lives a year within a decade.

Now a 50p basic price was needed to have a similar affect. That would cut overall consumption by 5.7%, saving 60 lives in the first year, and 318 a year within a decade. It would most directly affect alcoholics, costing them an extra £120 a year.

While the Scottish pub trade and some brewers who specialise in premium brands support minimum pricing, the measure is opposed by the large retailers and the spirits industry. The Scotch Whisky Association again warned that minimum pricing was likely to be illegal, breaching European and global rules on free trade and competition. The SWA said it would push the cost of one litre bottle of Scotch up by 22% to £20, and a standard bottle up by 11% to £14.

Gavin Hewitt, the SWA's chief executive, said: "The Scotch whisky industry remains opposed to the principle of minimum unit pricing. It will be ineffective in tackling alcohol misuse. It has consistently been ruled to be illegal in Europe. It will damage the industry."