The former Royal Physician of Scotland has told local authorities they can beat the market laws on competition and insist upon a minimum price for alcohol.

The former Royal Physician of Scotland has told local authorities they can beat the market laws on competition and insist upon a minimum price for alcohol.

But Professor Peter Brunt, vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians and chairman of the Medical Council on Alcohol, said that where authorities make decisions based on health grounds they must spell out their reasons or have efforts to address binge drinking undermined by accusations of "killjoys" and "an us against them attitude".

Speaking to an audience of Scotland's licensing boards and their legal officials, Prof Brunt said careful navigation around both EU and UK legislation would allow the imposition of a minimum price and that this had been confirmed by the Office of Fair Trading.

He said that it was possible to beat competition law if minimum prices are imposed at the sole instigation of a public authority with zero involvement of the licensed trade.

Prof Brunt said licensing boards needed to show they were not engaged in economic activity but admitted there was a potential for breaching EU law where continental beer was sold.

He said: "The major problem we face is promotional discounting and not the responsible pub owner. The large off-sales particularly the supermarkets . . . until we tackle them we will continue to have major problems.

"Don't be put off when you are told minimum pricing is in breach of competition law. There are ways to do it which do not disobey UK or European law. We can't afford the mayhem and criminality associated with alcohol and now we can make decisions based on health grounds which is a major step forward.

"But we have to get away from the culture where licensing boards are accused of being killjoys or where there's an us-against-them attitude."

The Scottish Government will launch its consultation on its longer-term strategy on alcohol this summer, with the price of alcohol being considered. It will also introduce laws clamping down on promotions in September 2009.

A spokeswoman said: "We welcome Professor Brunt's comments and can reassure him that the government is not easily intimidated. We have said before that retailers need to face up to their responsibilities and not hide behind spurious legal arguments."

But Janet Hood, a former licensing board clerk and head of trade lobbyists BII Scotland, said: "In places like Norway and Finland, where they have tight controls, they still have massive problems with drunkenness and I would urge Professor Brunt to consider that."