Minimum pricing debate rages on

By Michele Kennedy                                                                                                            

Cheap alcohol, student discounts and free entry into clubs are a few reasons for the nation’s disturbing binge drinking culture. A half bottle of Glen’s vodka costing under £5, means more and more people indulge in pre-pub drinks before hitting the town resulting in more drink related accidents. With the new minimum price, the government hopes to reduce the amount of accidents caused by binge drinking.

The Scottish government have again renounced plans to set a minimum price for alcohol. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has been trying to put their plan into action since 2009 in order to curb the country’s pressing drinking culture.

Research suggests that Scottish adults consume the equivalent of a standard bottle of vodka or 10 pints of beer every week, a fifth more than the average in England and Wales. The set price per unit of alcohol will be 50p, which would see the cost of the strongest ciders more than double in supermarkets and shops, while a bottle of whisky would cost at least £14 and wine a minimum of £4.50.

Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent for the Guardian,  writes today that: “Recent studies published by the Scottish government said endemic alcohol abuse in some parts of Scotland led directly to the deaths of 3,000 Scots each year and cost the economy £3.5bn a year in hospital admissions and lost productivity”

The policy was voted down in September 2009 by opposition MSPs when the SNP was a minority government. Now that they are re-elected with a majority in the Holyrood elections last year, the SNP re-introduced the policy and on 24 May the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 was passed. Even though royal consent has been given, the policy is still not in force as two more steps must be completed before it is put into action.

The policy has been denounced by several European Union Nations such as Italy and Spain stating that ‘it breaches EU law on free trade’. The European Commission (EC) revealed: “we have a problem with the compatibility of minimum pricing plans under community law”.

When questioned on what effect this might have, members of the public say that setting a minimum price would not affect the amount that people drink: “people who binge drink on a regular basis won’t be put off by the price, they’ll just search out ways of getting cheap alcohol. Drinking on a regular basis has some grounds in that it’s only one factor amongst many. It’ll just be one more reason to dislike the government.”

Many believe that by doing this it will only make the country poorer: “It’s just going to make the Scottish poor even poorer. We’re a low wage and high tax socio-economic dump where the rich tax dodge like the maniacs they are and we can’t even get hammered for cheap”