THE fight over plans to introduce minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland has taken another twist.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has been given the green light to take its appeal against the Scottish Government’s policy to the Supreme Court.
The Court of Session in Edinburgh has granted the SWA permission to take its fight to the court.
It comes after the Court of Session rejected the SWA’s appeal against the measure in October.
The move is the latest step in an extended legal wrangle over the proposals, which has delayed implementation of a policy aimed at tackling Scotland’s drink problem.
The SWA wants to stop ministers going ahead with their plans and believes that MUP is incompatible with EU law.
SWA acting chief executive Julie Hesketh-Laird said: “We now hope the appeal can be heard quickly by the Supreme Court, with a final ruling next year.”
She has previously insisted the SWA’s intention to continue the legal challenge was not taken lightly and followed wide consultation. She has also described the proposed measure as likely to be “ineffective”.
But Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said it is time for the SWA to give up the fight, which has previously gone as far as the European Court of Justice (ECJ). She said: “It is so frustrating that the Scotch Whisky Association will not accept this is the end of the road for their misguided and damaging legal action.
“In the four-and-a-half years since the Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly to pass minimum unit pricing, at least 4,500 Scots have died of alcohol-related diseases.
“We know that the heaviest drinkers buy the cheapest, strongest alcohol and that’s why minimum pricing is such an effective policy.”
The Supreme Court said it was likely the case would be heard in the first half of 2017.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel