Sturgeon urged: Name your price on alcohol

Published on Thursday 27 May 2010 21:26

NATIONALIST MSPs have urged the Scottish Government to name a minimum price for alcohol in an effort to win support for its bill from other parties.

SNP members of the health and sport committee have joined others in calling on health secretary Nicola Sturgeon to put a preferred minimum price-per-unit in the bill when it comes back to the Holyrood chamber.

They believe it is their best chance of winning over dissenters, principally Liberal Democrats, who are seen as the party most sympathetic to minimum pricing. They aim to persuade Ross Finnie, Lib Dem health spokesman and committee vice-convener, in the hope that he will then be able to bring his party with him.

Until now, the Scottish Government has refused to commit to naming its preferred price – thought to be 40p – until Stage Three of the bill and the final vote.

Some Nationalists believe this has made it harder to argue for the bill, with industry giants, such as Whyte and Mackay, warning about job losses if the minimum price was set at 50p. The company then admitted the impact of a 40p threshold would be "negligible".

Other parties have long argued that the Scottish Government should name its price.

Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour health spokeswoman, said: "Nicola Sturgeon needs to take her fingers out her ears and start listening. This report adds to the pressure on her to be honest with the electorate and tell us what she believes the minimum price for alcohol should be. Her refusal to name the price is completely unacceptable, because it creates confusion for the industry and stops MSPs from properly scrutinising the proposals."

Scottish Labour, which is holding its own Alcohol Commission, favours targeting high-caffeine alcoholic drinks, such as Buckfast, and introducing a Challenge 25 law which would require anyone looking younger to provide ID.

The committee did agree that "the scale of the alcohol problem is such that it must be addressed".

Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservatives' health spokesman, said: "The SNP should withdraw their plans for indiscriminate blanket minimum pricing and allow a consensus to be built around measures upon which all parties can agree."

Christine Grahame, convener of the health committee and a former dissenter who has been won over, said: "My own view is that I was originally – several years back – opposed to minimum pricing. I thought it would impact unfairly on the less well-off. But I've sincerely come to the view that it is the less well-off group that is suffering the most damage by drinking raw, cheap, high-content alcohol."

Ms Sturgeon said:

"It's vital that we get the price right to ensure that it is effective.

"We have made clear that we'll bring forward a price before MSPs are asked to take a final vote on the policy, and we will reflect on the views of the committee."