THE despair caused by Margaret Thatcher's ­Conservative policies is behind Scotland's troubled relationship with alcohol, a new study has claimed.

Academic research ­published in the European Journal of Public Health has suggested that the Scots turned to drink at the same time de-industrialisation began to take hold.

Dr Deborah Shipton, key author, argues the former prime minister's policies hit Scottish communities to a much greater degree, leading to mass unemployment.

It reads: "The results of the research are compatible with the idea that policies carried out in the 1980s and 1990s have driven differences in alcohol-related deaths in Scotland compared with England."

Dr Shipton said that from the early 1950s to 1970s, Scotland had one of the lowest levels of liver cirrhosis, but this level later spiked.

Jackson Carlaw, Scottish Conservatives health spokesman, said: "Figures demonstrate that the deterioration in Scotland's record with alcohol began almost to the day Margaret Thatcher left office - make of that what you will."

Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie said it was too easy to simply blame Thatcherism for Scotland's alcohol ­troubles, but conceded that de-industrialisation was a contributory factor.