MINIMUM PRICE FOR ALCOHOL IS ‘POSITIVE, PRACTICAL’ SOLUTION

Responding to opposition attacks on the SNP Government’s policy of introducing minimum pricing for alcohol, Linda Fabiani MSP said:

“As each day passes, the persistence of the Scottish Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats in setting their faces against the SNP’s positive proposals on alcohol is more and more untenable.

“All three parties are hopelessly split on this issue, with their colleagues in Westminster increasingly speaking out in support of minimum pricing. Former Conservative leader Ian Duncan Smith has said that politicians who oppose a rise in alcohol prices are “in the grip of cowardice”, English Health Secretary Andy Burnham has indicated his support for minimum pricing and both Labour and Liberal Democrat members of the House of Commons Health Select Committee have strongly backed its introduction.

“These cross-party political voices join those of all four UK Chief Medical Officers, all of Scotland’s Directors of Public Health, two former Scottish Health Ministers, the British Medical Association, the Royal Colleges of Nursing, Physicians, Surgeons and GPs, Faculty of Public Health, British Liver Trust, Scottish Licensed Trade Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and many others at the sharp end of dealing with alcohol misuse who support the SNP government’s policy of minimum pricing.

“The academic evidence base in support of minimum pricing is clear and convincing. The policy targets the cheap products favoured by the worst problem drinkers, without affecting higher quality beer, wine and spirits which are already sold above the minimum price level. The vast majority of responsible drinkers will not be penalised.

“The Scottish Government has never claimed that minimum pricing is a magic bullet solution to Scotland’s problems with alcohol, but it is a positive, practical step forward that will address some of the worst causes and consequences.

“The opposition parties in Scotland try to cover their disgraceful, cynical posturing with misinformation and scare stories. The families and communities across Scotland who pay the price of the damage to health and public order caused by booze sold at pocket money prices deserve better.”