UK GOVERNMENT SIGNALS WHISKY DUTY U-TURN.

CHANCELLOR SIGNALS U-TURN ON WHISKY DUTY.



Commenting on the report on BBC Newsnight Scotland tonight (Tuesday) that the Chancellor Alistair Darling may be U-turning on the level of duty imposed on the Scotch whisky industry, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP, whose Moray constituency produces more than half of Scotland's malt whisky, said:

“We need to see the detail of what Alistair Darling is proposing, but hopefully he is U-turning on this damaging tax hike on one of Scotland’s key industries.

“It would be a huge blow to the Chancellor’s credibility if he is forced into a climbdown when the ink on the Pre-Budget Report is barely dry, and it suggests that he didn’t understand the impact of his own PBR measures on Scotland.

“However, the important thing is to get it right for Scotland. At a time when Scotland’s record oil revenues are bankrolling the Treasury, it cannot be right that Scotland’s whisky industry is further hammered, just as the Chancellor’s cuts in 2010/11 are indefensible.”