Lobbyists are using a “speed dating” technique to get their message across to more MSPs at Holyrood.

Whisky chiefs have ramped up their lobbying at Holyrood - reaching almost three quarters of MSPs since the last Scottish election - while oil and gas giants have increased pressure on politicians over the future of the North Sea, The Scotsman can reveal.

The number of lobbying meetings by the Scotch Whisky Association, the industry trade body, has doubled from 30 meetings with MSPs during 2023 to 61 such instances registered so far this year.

Oil and gas giants and whisky chiefs have ramped up lobbying of MSPs | PA

Since the 2021 Holyrood election, the organisation has met with 92 out of the 129 MSPs - almost three quarters of the total number of elected politicians.

The meetings come against a backdrop of minimum unit pricing level having been raised again - to 65p per unit as of Monday - and with alcohol deaths in Scotland having reached the highest level in 15 years after 1,277 people died from conditions caused by alcohol last year.

Politicians across the board support the crucial whisky industry, which contributes an estimated £5.3 billion to the Scottish economy each year.

But the Scottish Whisky Association is not alone - several other key industries have intensely lobbied MSPs over key policy stand-offs.

Ministers and opposition MSPs have been lobbied from a host of other industries, including energy and fossil fuels companies such as Shell and BP, cultural and sport organisations such as the Scottish FA and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, and other trades including food and drink and accommodation providers.

A lobbyist and public affairs expert who did not want to be named said a “speed dating” technique allowed industries to “infiltrate a lot of politicians in one go”.

They said: “It’s all within the rules and it's all published and transparent, but it allows you to speak to lots of people without fuss and in one stint.

“People may think some of this is a bit seedy, but it’s all very open and much tighter regulated than Westminster.”

The Scotch Whisky Association has used the “speed dating” strategy this year, with a stand set up at the Scottish Parliament allowing industry bosses to speak to dozens of MSPs within the space of three days. Energy giants have also used the same tactic.

At the SNP conference last month in Edinburgh, BP lobbied John Swinney, Kate Forbes, acting net zero secretary Gillian Martin, climate minister Alasdair Allan, business minister Ivan McKee, agriculture minister Jim Fairlie, education secretary Jenny Gilruth and housing minister Paul McLennan, as well as five backbench MSPs. Topics discussed during the lobbying included “the future of our North Sea oil and gas business”.

It comes as the Scottish Government is poised to finally publish its long-delayed energy strategy that will signal whether it will support an “acceleration” away from the North Sea oil and gas sector.

BP used the Holyrood Magazine garden party last month to hold another six meetings with MSPs.

On Monday, Mr Swinney and Ms Martin met the chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, David Whitehouse, to “discuss how government and industry can work together to ensure a just transition for Scotland's offshore energy sector”.

Earlier this year, Shell bosses met with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar over the “potential impact” of his party’s “proposed North Sea taxation policy”, which the industry has criticised. Records show Mr Sarwar vowed to “continue to discuss the proposals with Labour colleagues at Westminster”.

Ineos also lobbied Mr Sarwar, venting the company’s “concerns on the banning of new oil and gas exploration” and called for his “support to reconsider Labour’s policy on the North Sea oil and gas industry”.

The Scotsman can also reveal a flurry of gifts and freebies handed out to MSPs from the alcohol industry, including to Health Secretary Neil Gray, Ms Forbes, former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross and deputy Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie - including tickets to sporting events, island visits and bottles of whisky.

All gifts and lobbying meetings are done within the rules and published transparently as set out in the Lobbying Scotland Act - with industries and companies within their rights to put their case to politicians.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) has called on politicians to be more transparent and for guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation to be adopted.

The toolkit says politicians should “acknowledge the essential conflict of interest between alcohol industry economic objectives and public health goals” and that “clear and robust processes must be established to minimise the risk of alcohol industry interference or obstruction of health policy objectives”.

SHAAP director Elinor Jayne said it was “time to have a rethink about just how close the industry has got to the hearts of politicians by using small independent distilleries and craft brewers as the acceptable face of the industry”.

She said: “Perhaps the Scottish Government should consider being more transparent when meeting with the industry and use the new World Health Organisation toolkit for managing interactions with health harming industries such as alcohol, and I would urge all MSPs to consider not accepting corporate hospitality from the alcohol industry while Scotland is in the grip of an alcohol public health crisis.”

Ms Jayne stressed “while every industry is entitled to lobby our policy makers, the scale and sophistication of alcohol industry lobbying is phenomenal”.

She pointed to legal challenges by the Scotch Whisky Association “delaying policy implementation” of the minimum unit pricing by five years.

Ms Jayne said pressure from the industry meant it was “incredibly unlikely” plans to restrict alcohol marketing would re-emerge before the next Holyrood election. She said: “This is, of course, at a time when Scotland is experiencing extremely high levels of alcohol deaths and untold health, social and economic harms because of alcohol.”

Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, claimed “big alcohol has a track record of putting their profits before people’s health”.

She said: “These companies use the same playbook as the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, seeking to deter and delay and block legislation that would be effective in reducing consumption and harm through political lobbying.

“More recently we have seen big alcohol step up their activities, creating ‘policy chill’ when it comes to alcohol marketing regulation in Scotland, despite the clear evidence that exposure to this marketing causes children and young people to start drinking and increases the likelihood they will develop an alcohol problem.

“They will count the recent delay to the promised consultation on alcohol marketing restrictions as another small victory.”

In August, the Scotch Whisky Association lobbied the First Minister during a visit to the Strathclyde Distillery in Glasgow.

First Minister John Swinney (Pic: Michael Boyd/Getty Images)

A separate meeting took place with Mr Swinney at SNP conference in August by whisky chiefs where they “emphasised the importance of investment in infrastructure delivery to help unlock economic growth and bring cost and complexity of doing business down”.

When issues were raised over the Scottish Government’s troubled deposit return scheme back in October 2022, whisky bosses lobbied then circular economy minister Lorna Slater, warning the industry “needs practical solutions, and quickly, to the outstanding issues”, adding “there are many fundamental issues that remain outstanding or without practical resolution”.

Lobbying records show concerns about the deposit return scheme were raised with several MSPs in March last year.

At a meeting with then first minister Humza Yousaf at St Andrew’s House in August last year, Scotch Whisky Association director Mark Kent and strategy director Graeme Littlejohn “welcomed his business reset, including the pause of the deposit return scheme, his representation on UK excise and the rethinking of the alcohol marketing consultation”.

Humza Yousaf (Photo:Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Records show the organisation also “highlighted industry's concern regarding a proposed increase to minimum unit pricing at a time of inflationary/cost of living pressures”.

The industry body had raised concerns about the alcohol marketing proposals for some time.

Diageo, which owns several big alcohol brands such as Johnnie Walker, held several lobbying meetings with SNP MSPs over the proposed marketing restriction, including with Jenni Minto a month before she became public health minister.

MSPs also accepted a flurry of gifts from the alcohol industry.

Tory MSP Maurice Golden, who was heavily critical of the deposit return scheme, accepted tickets and hospitality to the Scotland versus Croatia football match in June 2021, and the Scotland versus England rugby matches in February 2022 and 2024 worth £602, paid for by Heineken.

Mr Ross, when he was Scottish Tory leader, was given Wimbledon tickets worth £475 from Diageo in 2022.

Boris Johnson and Douglas Ross, former leader of the Scottish Conservatives (Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/WPA pool/Getty Images)

Ms Forbes and her husband attended the 2024 Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield as guests of Heineken worth £400. The Deputy First Minister launched her leadership bid in 2023 with an attack on the deposit return scheme - warning it could cause “economic carnage”.

Mr Gray also accepted free tickets and hospitality to the rugby from Heineken, attending the Scotland versus England match in 2022.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser and SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald visited Islay on behalf of the Scottish Whisky Association in August last year, at a cost of £495 each. In December 2023, the Chivas Brothers whisky company printed the deputy leader of Scottish Labour’s Christmas card, worth £750.

Greens MSP Gillian Mackay, said:“We have a large and influential alcohol industry in Scotland, but when it comes to public health and the environment its self-interest doesn’t always align with the interests of the public.

“These are areas where for decades taxpayers have had to pay for the damage caused by industry. It should concern everyone that such large-scale lobbying efforts are being deployed right across Parliament to prevent that from changing.

“As we see alcohol-related deaths continue to rise, it’s crucial that politicians remember their democratic obligation is solely to the public good, not corporate profit.”

Scottish MPs have also received gifts from the alcohol industry.

In February this year, Scottish LibDems deputy leader Wendy Chamberlain, who worked for Diageo for four years, attended a dinner hosted by the company “to discuss challenges facing the hospitality and drinks industries”, with a value of £320. LibDems MP for Orkney, Alistair Carmichael, and the party’s MP for Edinburgh West, Christine Jardine, also attended the dinner.

Ms Jardine also accepted tickets to the 2024 Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield “plus hospitality at a nearby Heineken pub” on behalf of the company, valued at £400.

Scottish Secretary Ian Murray accepted a similar dinner from Diageo when he was still in opposition in November last year.

Mr Swinney has pledged to publish an updated ministerial code for the Scottish Government by the end of the year, which will include new powers such as enabling independent advisers to scrutinise Ministers’ declarations of interests so they can offer advice on avoiding actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is working to tackle alcohol misuse, including by increasing the minimum unit price of alcohol, which evidence estimates has saved hundreds of lives, likely averted hundreds of alcohol-attributable hospital admissions and contributed to tackling health inequalities. Record funding has also been made available to alcohol and drug Partnerships.

“Gifts given to ministers in their capacity as MSPs or as members of a political party fall within the rules relating to the register of interest of members of the Scottish Parliament. External ministerial engagements are recorded and published.”

A spokesperson for the Scotch Whisky Association said: "We are proud of our record of standing up for the Scotch Whisky industry, our member companies and ensuring MSPs have awareness of the priorities of one of Scotland’s most important sectors, both at home and abroad.

“The Scotch Whisky industry’s workforce, production sites and supply chain extends to every constituency across Scotland, generating £5.3bn for the Scottish economy and supporting 41,000 jobs. The industry’s importance to Scotland means regular engagement across the political spectrum is essential.

“All meetings are registered in a fully transparent manner.”

Diageo and Heineken did not respond to requests for comment.

Exclusive:How the Scottish Parliament is lobbied: Oil giants and whisky chiefs' 'speed dating' access to MSPs

Comments