SCOTLAND'S supermarkets and off-licences should be forced to stop selling alcohol two hours earlier, while stores should also have booze-only checkouts, leading campaigners have claimed.

Alcohol Focus Scotland will launch its report at its annual conference in Glasgow today, recommending also that licensed venues which sell more liquor should pay higher fees to local authorities and every venue should have to publish annual information on the volume of alcohol it sells.

Sports Minister Shona Robison will claim alcohol misuse is not a marginal problem, and affects “not just dependent drinkers or offenders”. The report calls on the Scottish Government to take action to regulate the sale of alcohol in off-licences.