Alistair Carmichael accuses Scottish Tories of being ‘fair-weather friends’ to Scotch whisky as amendment to block spirits tax hike fails

Alistair Carmichael has accused the Scottish Tories of being “fair-weather friends” to Scotch whisky after an attempt to block the spirits tax hike was voted down in the Commons.

The Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Home Affairs, Justice and Northern Ireland had filed an amendment to revert the 10 per cent tax hike on spirits, which the Scotch Whisky Association have labelled a “hammer blow” to the industry.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, Andrew Bowie and John Lamont all voted against the amendment, while the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross abstained, as did David Mundell.

Speaking to The Scotsman after his amendment was voted down 290-54 in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Carmichael claimed the Government lacked a “coherent strategy” on alcohol duty.

An attempt to block the hike on spirits duty was voted down.

He said: “If you look back over the years, the modelling that the OBR does on this is consistently wrong. They consistently predict things that do not happen. In any business in any part of the world that would raise questions as to whether your modelling was right or not.

"The Scottish Conservatives are fair-weather friends when it comes to the Scotch whisky industry. When times are good they can’t crow about it loud enough, but when they fail to convince their own colleagues of the fundamental injustice of a position they are nowhere to be seen.

"Douglas Ross got a lot of flack this week for being in America rather than Holyrood. He could have been in Westminster for that vote. Wendy Chamberlain, who was also on the same select committee, made it the Commons to vote on my amendment, he didn’t.

“It’s a strange sort of leadership that when the bugle sounds, the leader is nowhere to be seen.”

During the debate, the Shetland and Orkney MP argued recent history had shown cuts and duty freezes had a “beneficial effect” on revenue.

He added: “But for some reason we now seem determined to increased a duty increase that will have an inflationary impact, and for some of the most economically fragile communities in the country, will have the effect of stymying growth.

“The Secretary for Scotland is reported in The Scotsman as having argued against this. He said that he was disappointed that the Chancellor eventually acted in the way that he did.

“It’s all very well to wring your hands but when the moment comes and the division bell rungs, you’re not prepared to follow and do what you know is right for so many of our communities, then I feel we as politicians are failing our constituents and those we seek to serve”.

Tory MP James Cartlidge, Secretary to the Treasury, insisted the UK Government was supporting the industry.

He said: "I understand the importance to the country of the sector, we’ve supported it in the last ten budgets, nine out of ten of those budgets, we’ve had a freeze or cut tax.

“The proposed amendment would cost in the range of £1.7 billion to £2 billion and the Retail Price Index freeze would cost £5 billion."

The SNP had filed their own amendment that sought only to cancel the rise for Scotch whisky, but supported Mr Carmichael's bill instead.