Bid to ban under-21s from buying alcohol is thrown out by MSPs

Published on Wednesday 29 September 2010 15:16

PLANS to allow licensing boards to ban under-21s buying alcohol from shops and supermarkets have been rejected by MSPs.

The SNP government wanted to let local licensing boards ban off-licence sales to under-21s, as part of a raft of measure to tackle alcohol abuse.

However, Holyrood's health and sport committee voted by a margin of five to three to remove the section of the government's Alcohol Bill giving boards the power to raise the age for off-sales from 18 to 21.

The move was the latest blow to the bill, coming just a week after Labour, Liberal Democrat and Tory MSPs voted down the SNP's flagship policy of imposing a minimum price of 45p a unit on alcohol.

Labour committee member Dr Richard Simpson, backed by Lib Dem and Tory members, argued the plan to raise the drink purchase age discriminated against young people.

He said: "It's unfair if young people are only able to consume alcohol in a pub or restaurant but cannot buy a bottle of wine to have at home while watching the television.

"We're all aware of binge drinking being a problem for some young people but this can't be tackled by discriminating against all young people, even in a specific area."

Dr Simpson also raised concerns teenagers would travel to neighbouring areas where there was no ban on under-21s, moving the problem elsewhere.

The Labour MSP said existing laws should be better used to tackle excessive and anti-social drinking.

Lib Dem health spokesman Ross Finnie described the plan to allow a ban on under-21s as ridiculous. He said: "Liberal Democrats campaigned hard against SNP plans to raise the legal age for buying alcohol in off-sales premises. We have continued our support for young people by voting down this unfair ban based on age.

"If the SNP had got their way, we could have been in the ridiculous situation where a 19-year-old army officer could not buy a bottle of wine to celebrate returning from the front line."

Tory health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon described the age restriction plans as "half-baked, ill-thought out and unworkable".

She said: "It is also the case that 18-year-olds can serve alcohol, hold a premises licence for sale of alcohol and train staff in the service of alcohol, so these SNP measures would have been totally counter-intuitive."

The policy was rejected despite a last-ditch appeal from health secretary Nicola Sturgeon, who was backed by the committee's three SNP members.

She said more than 2,000 under-20s were discharged from hospital with an alcohol-related diagnosis in 2007-08.

She added: "I think that's a serious issue.

"I'm not suggesting this initiative will solve that problem outright, but I do believe it's an important part of the package."