SNP plough on with drinking reforms

The SNP are to push ahead with their campaign to curb Scotland's drinking culture, entitled “Changing Scotland’s relationship with alcohol”, despite the programme being labelled "an unworkable mess" by Scottish Labour.

The campaign calls for a minimum price per unit of alcohol and aims to stop off licenses from carrying cut-price offers.

A Scottish government spokesperson told The Journal: "We don’t want people to stop drinking alcohol but we do want to introduce a collection of measures to address Scotland’s problems with alcohol and encourage everyone to drink responsibly.”

The proposals, which could be fast-tracked through the Scottish parliament in as little as six months, also outline plans to raise the minimum age for off-license sales in Scotland to 21.

The government has estimated that drink related accidents and crime cost the Scottish economy in the region of £2.25bn each year. The SNP have also highlighted that the number of people being treated for alcohol-related illness has increased by 20 per cent in the last five years.

A spokesperson from the Scottish government said: “The relative price of alcohol had decreased by 70 per cent since 1980 and you can now buy enough alcohol to exceed a man’s recommended weekly alcohol unit intake for less than £3.50. All the evidence suggests that the more available and the cheaper alcohol is, the more people will buy it and the more they will drink.”

The SNP campaign has been given widespread support from leading health and justice experts. SNP MSP Michael Matheson told The Journal: “These proposals tackle some of the fundamental issues behind our drinking problem – price and availability. Labour and the Tories have failed to come up with a strategy to tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland. Today's complaint from Labour is that the SNP is doing too much - a major contrast with Labour's 'do little' attitude."

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon, said the latest SNP strategy was "bolder than anything seen before in Scotland" and that close consideration had been given to the proposal: "We have listened to those who responded to the consultation and modified our proposals where appropriate. But we remain determined to press ahead with tough policies to tackle alcohol misuse.”

A minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol, as advocated by health campaigners, would see many off-sales prices more than double. The SNP have been criticised for increasing the burden on consumers and the alcohol industry in the current economic downturn.

Commenting on the Scottish government’s alcohol plans, Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Ross Finnie MSP said: “Liberal Democrats campaigned hard against the SNP’s plan to raise the legal age for buying alcohol. We believe that it stigmatises an entire generation of young people as irresponsible drinkers.”

Richard Baker, Labour's shadow justice secretary, said: "The SNP's plans to tackle alcohol problems in Scotland have been widely criticised and hugely delayed. It's hard to imagine how after almost two years of government their key justice policy could be in a bigger mess. This framework in it’s current is inadequate, unfair and unworkable.”

However, a spokesperson from the Scottish government said that appropriate modifications were made after consultations with the opposition parties: “The responses that were received in criticism of raising the age for off-sales to 21 were acknowledged and the proposals were modified accordingly.”

The power to raise the off-sales age to 21 will now be decided by individual licensing boards.

But the public response to the proposals has so far been less than enthusiastic. Sam Lee, a barmaid in a pub on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, feels that the SNP’s proposals are unrealistic: "If people want to get drunk, they will get drunk irrespective of cost – it’s as simple as that. The problems related to binge drinking are not going to be fixed by any law.”