Warning of legal action over bid to set price of alcoholJune 17, 2008
DOUGLAS FRASER, Scottish Political Editor
The drinks industry expects it can place legal challenges in the way of Scottish Government plans to impose minimum prices per unit of alcohol, as expected in a major new alcohol strategy to be unveiled in West Lothian today.
The idea of putting a floor of 40 pence per unit of alcohol is reckoned by the whisky industry to mean a 12% price rise on the average £10 bottle - when tax is already rising steeply - and there is a warning it will send the wrong message to export markets where it is seeking to remove trade barriers.
The government strategy, to be published by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill with Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, is expected to encompass several reforms that have already been signalled by Mr MacAskill as he confronts the nation's particularly serious problems with excess drinking.
It is thought to be a broad-ranging "whole population approach" to confronting every aspect of Scotland's drink culture, going far beyond bingeing and youth.
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