Lesley Riddoch: Politics of drink costs is Scotland's shame

Published on Sunday 5 September 2010 11:48

Manchester has been making a few headlines in Scotland lately. Its tram line thrives while Edinburgh's stagnates.

Its city centre was used as a battleground by drunken Rangers fans - and its own rate of binge drinking almost matches the Scots according to a report last week.

So - on 29 October - its councillors might go where the Scots evidently fear to tread by introducing a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol through a by-law.

This offers some useful points of comparison.

First, the majority of the ten councils considering the move in Manchester are Labour-controlled. In Scotland, Labour is set to vote against the SNP's 45p minimum price.

Second, the by-law device could fall foul of competition laws but Primr Minister David Cameron has signalled any Manchester move would be looked at "very sympathetically".

In Scotland the Conservatives are also set to vote against the SNP.

Third, the Prime Minister is against a national minimum price - it's one of the reasons the Manchester councils felt the need to act independently.

In Scotland, Labour believes it can persuade David Cameron to adopt a national floor price. It's one of the reasons they do not feel the need to act independently.

Fourth, Greater Manchester is 496 square miles in size. It is landlocked and has a dense population of two and a half million. If minimum pricing went ahead it would be surrounded on all sides by easy to access off licences selling alcohol cheaply - a white van man's paradise. Still, Manchester councillors are seriously considering minimum pricing to tackle alcohol abuse.

Scotland is 30,420 square miles in size. Of its 10,343 mile outline, 10,247 miles is coastline. Only 96 miles form a land border with England. If minimum pricing went ahead it would be a long drive or a new boat for white van man.

Still Scottish politicians raise the proximity of cheaper alcohol as an insuperable obstacle to minimum pricing.

Fifth, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities is a pilot city region with very few statutory powers, set up in 2009 by Alistair Darling. Its first meeting took place just six weeks ago. Despite its relative youth and lack of legislative clout AGMA is ready to embrace a controversial move like minimum pricing.

The Scottish Parliament is a government with sole responsibility for health and policing. Its first meeting occurred 11 years ago.Despite its "maturity" and considerable clout, the Scottish Parliament is not ready to embrace an adventurous mechanism like minimum pricing.

In other words, by the time the Mancunians come to make their decision in late October, the chances are that Scottish minimum pricing will be dead in the water - voted down at the Holyrood health committee next week.

There is another big difference between Manchester and Scotland.

One third of Manchester councillors are elected each year - so two thirds will not face re-election in 2011. All Scottish MSPs - by contrast - are up for re-election next year.

So petty party rivalry and fear of a booze-loving electorate are manageable obstacles for the councils of Manchester. Neither obstacle can be overcome in Scotland with Holyrood elections just nine months distant.

The SNP will have to be happy in the knowledge their doughty adherence to minimum pricing did convince Labour, the Lib Dems and David Cameron that price is a factor in our epidemic of alcohol misuse. Sadly though, none of the above could bite the bullet and give the Nats a pre-election minimum pricing victory. Nor have they come up with anything better - just red herrings aplenty.

Opposition MSPs complain the SNP's plan will put price rise cash into the pockets of supermarkets not public services - even though the Alcohol Bill includes a supermarket levy whose precise amount will be fixed in secondary legislation to allow easier variation in the future.

If parliament had the will it could vote to remove and redistribute the supermarkets windfall in much the same way Gordon Brown removed excessive oil company profits.

But it won't.

Scottish Labour's commission has instead proposed a UK-wide "floor price" that will be almost impossible to set, raise, collect or check. It's beyond the power of Scottish politicians to deliver and it may be quite ineffective.

Banning the sale of alcohol below the cost of production, duty and VAT means a two litre bottle of supermarket cider costing 1.32 would actually come down in price to 85p.

The only way to make it more expensive would be to raise duty massively (the Coalition has just U-turned on a promise to raise tax on cider) or include marketing and distribution costs.

None of these costs are currently in the public domain - and they change a lot. That's why experts consulted by the Scottish Government examined this option and rejected it as too difficult to implement and monitor.

Those same experts - the World Health Organisation (WHO); the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE); the UK's Chief Medical Officers; doctors; nurses; children's charities and the police - still back minimum pricing.

Such professional and civic consensus drove the smoking ban forward even though the Scottish Parliament couldn't use the precise mechanism deployed by the pioneering Irish.Holyrood doesn't control workplace legislation - instead it acted on air quality in enclosed public places.

Eventually the English caught up and there is now a single policy across the British Isles which is actually a mosaic of different laws and powers. It works.

Why can't our politicians forge ahead on their own now?

I thought Scotland's destiny within the Union was to experiment with progressive policies on behalf of the whole timorous UK - a sort of reverse poll tax position. I thought such a sense of mission might prove appealing to left of centre unionist parties in search of patriotic credentials. In reality though, if the Nationalists touch a policy, it is rendered unsupportable by everyone bar the Greens.

So when they combine to vote down minimum pricing, the Scottish Parliament will make Scots look hesitant, fearful of being first and unable to grasp the nettle.

Northern Ireland has been waiting to follow Scotland's lead - so have many cities, nations, countries and commentators across the world.

Let's hope the politicians of Manchester are able to take courage instead.