TORIES & LIBDEMS AT SIXES & SEVENS ON ALCOHOL MISUSE

TORIES & LIBDEMS AT SIXES & SEVENS ON ALCOHOL MISUSE

Today’s announcement at the Tory conference by the party’s shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, who outlined proposals to ban cheap supermarket drink deals, raise the price of super-strength lager and a levy to pay more for alcohol licences to fund policing, puts the Scottish Tories on the spot about addressing alcohol misuse in the Scottish Parliament.

This is despite the Scottish Tories claiming that high prices do not solve alcohol abuse, which itself follows on from Iain Duncan Smith's endorsement of the SNP position.

In a further development the LibDems are also in an embarrassing position with their spokesperson Robert Brown attacking minimum pricing last night whilst his party’s shadow business spokesperson, Lorely Burt, has called cheap supermarket booze the “biggest problem” and “reiterated” her party’s support for minimum pricing.

In October last year the UK LibDems produced a report on the UK's relationship with alcohol which called for minimum pricing to be introduced.

Saying that both parties are at sixes and sevens on tackling the serious issues of alcohol misuse SNP MSP and member of the Scottish Parliament's Health Committee, Michael Matheson, said:

“This announcement by the Tories’ shadow home secretary is an embarrassment to the Tories in the Scottish Parliament. Their attacks on minimum pricing are now exposed as shallow and opportunistic. They are at sixes and sevens on tackling alcohol misuse. If they are serious about taking action then they should support the Scottish Government proposals, including minimum pricing and a social responsibility levy.

“Whilst it is welcome that their UK shadow home secretary recognises that cost is a factor in causing the health and justice problems of alcohol misuse, it would make more sense to apply minimum pricing

“And the LibDem’s position looks equally incoherent and typically opportunistic. Whilst they fail to offer any solution to the problems of alcohol misuse in Scotland, south of the border they are agreeing with the SNP Government’s position.

“Both the Tories and LibDems in Scotland should drop the grandstanding and address the issue. The scale of Scotland's alcohol misuse problem is shocking: 42,500 alcohol-related hospital discharges; 1,500 deaths per year; soaring rates of liver cirrhosis; the eighth highest consumption in the world, and a £2.25 billion annual cost in public services and lost productivity.

“It’s about time they addressed those issues instead of shallow populism that even their own colleagues down south have now rejected.”