Labour takes new look at solutions to Scots' alcohol problem

Published on Monday 8 February 2010 21:40

A NEW commission is to look at ways of tackling Scotland's "love affair" with booze.

The body has been set up by the Labour Party, under the chairmanship of Professor Sally Brown, to find alternative means of tackling alcohol problems rather than the SNP proposal of minimum pricing.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are set to reject minimum pricing, which today goes before Holyrood's health committee as part of the first stage of the Scottish Government's Alcohol Bill.

Labour claims that minimum pricing would only line the pockets of supermarkets with an extra 90 million.

Instead, it wants the commission to consider a range of proposals, such as a mandatory challenge scheme for people who look under 25 to stop underage drinking; alternative pricing mechanisms, possibly through taxation; Alcohol Treatment and Testing Orders to tackle the problem drinking of offenders; and better enforcement of existing legislation to impose tougher sanctions against premises that sell alcohol to a person who is already intoxicated.

They also want restrictions on advertising to protect children from being exposed to alcohol promotions and zero tolerance of drink-driving.

Prof Brown said: "It seems extremely unlikely that one would be able to make an impression on this field unless you have a kind of mix of actions. There isn't going to be one magic bullet that is going to solve the problems that we face here."

However, the SNP has said that the commission is a cover-up for Labour stopping minimum pricing for political rather than health reasons.