Student group’s trustees slammed over beer vote

Edinburgh University Students Association (Eusa) has been labelled undemocratic after it overturned a vote to ban the sale of “unethical” beers on campus.

Students voted by 1305 votes to 652 for a boycott of products of SABMiller – the world’s second-biggest brewer – in a referendum, but the move was blocked by Eusa’s trustee board.

Eusa said the decision was taken amid fears the ban would scare other breweries away from signing up to long-term contracts with the university. Campaigners claim the brewery, which produces Grolsch and Peroni, avoids paying an estimated £20 million of taxes in Africa and India every year.

Kirsty Haigh of the Bollocks to Poverty Society, which called for the referendum, said: “The students are obviously very upset by this decision and feel it’s utterly undemocratic.”

Eusa refused to disclose how many students had voted in the referendum, but it is understood an “overwhelming majority” supported the ban.