Britain's big four supermarkets have outlined their opposition to controversial government plans to tackle alcohol abuse in Scotland.

Britain's big four supermarkets have outlined their opposition to controversial government plans to tackle alcohol abuse in Scotland.

Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's have come out against the most contentious of the proposals which would radically alter how alcohol is bought in sold in shops, off-sales and supermarkets.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on its plan to tackle what the First Minister often refers to as "Scotland's relationship with the booze".

A huge response was received, with 205 organisations and 182 individuals responding to the consultation.

As well as the country's main retailers, there were smaller grocers, local authorities, alcohol campaign groups, youth organisations, and health boards among the respondents.

Many were in favour of the proposals including Alcohol Focus Scotland and the British Medical Association, who welcomed the strategy which it said contained: "A number of bold strategies that will, if developed in partnership and appropriately resourced, help to turn around Scotland's relationship with alcohol."

Alcohol Focus Scotland was in favour of a ban on price promotions, supported a minimum price strategy, raising the age to 21 and introducing social responsibility fees.

Their response stated: "We are heartened that the Scottish Government is demonstrably taking Scotland's harmful drinking culture seriously by clearly setting out the scale of the problem, and outlining a range of imaginative proposals."

The supermarkets, however, while in agreement that a strategy for alcohol misuse was needed, were concerned the plan was not based on evidence. They had fears about the impacts of minimum pricing and a ban on promotions would have on competition.

They felt the proposal to increase the purchasing age at off-sales to 21, would be ineffective and was unnecessary.

Separate checkouts for alcohol were thought to lead to additional costs which would be passed on to customers, inconvenient and burdensome on stores in terms of staff and space.

And a social responsibility fee, unless targeted at irresponsible sellers, was deemed a disincentive to responsible retailers to maintain high standards.

A Tesco spokesman said: "We believe the noble aim of the consultation will not be achieved by the outlined proposals, the principal aim of which is to severely curtail the supply of alcohol by making it harder, and more expensive to purchase."

Sainsbury's feared a minimum price would lead to cross-border trips to England or ferry trips to Northern Ireland, which even allowing for increasing petrol costs, was still deemed to be financially beneficial to bulk buyers.

The company cited its Newry store in Northern Ireland, which as a result of day-trippers from the Republic of Ireland has the highest alcohol sales in the UK.

Asda said it would support raising the purchase age to 21 but only if it also applied to pub sales.

Morrisons went further. They said: "The proposal to raise the minimum legal purchase age for off-sales to 21 is quite simply discriminatory. It would distort the market and not enable free and fair competition between the on-trade and off-trade."

At last month's SNP conference First Minister Alex Salmond and senior ministers re-stated their intention to bring forward legislation to deal with the effects alcohol abuse has on Scotland.

The conference voted in favour of raising the age to 21 just weeks after opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament joined forces to defeat the government on a vote on the issue.

Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary, said at the conference: "This government will not shirk from its responsibility to get Scotland back on an even keel with the drink. Irresponsible promotion and irresponsible pricing of alcohol is simply unacceptable."