Tax and duty system still has major role to play in tackling alcohol abuse

"Alcohol Statistics 2011" has been published today.

Murdo Fraser MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health & Wellbeing, said:

"It is never pleasant to see these figures and it confirms once again what a problem Scotland has with alcohol abuse.

"We must ensure that those underage find it more difficult to purchase alcohol to begin with, rather than focussing all our attention on initiatives that deal with after the event. Many responsible businesses comply with the law in selling alcohol and we would rather the irresponsible licence holders who sell to underage buyers were made to pay.

"These reports confirm what we already know - Scotland has a drink problem and urgent, effective action is required to tackle it. The SNP's indiscriminate blanket minimum pricing, which had no evidence base, would penalise responsible drinkers, harm the Scotch whisky industry, cost jobs and was probably illegal, was never the answer.

"We believe that the tax and duty system has a major part to play in increasing the price of problem drinks, and will continue to work to achieve this."

Back to all posts