Scotch whisky firm, Whyte & Mackay has had to apologise for presenting a misleading case in its argument against the Scottish Government’s plan to introduce minimum pricing per unit of alcohol.
The plan has the backing of health professionals at every level; and of the police.
The Scotch Whisky Association has been leading a persistent campaign against the proposed measure, using the emotive iconic position of single malt whisky in Scots society to imply – falsely – that this sector of the industry will be hit by minimum pricing.
However, its products are already priced above the level which the Government is likely to set as the minimum and will therefore be unaffected.
The concerns of the major players in the SWA – drinks conglomerates – are actually centred on the potential of the proposed legislation to impact on the market for the cheaper alcoholic products they sell and not on their high-end whiskies.
Their’s has quite a dishonest campaign and the apology forced from Whyte & Mackat exemplifies this.
The company had shouted that the legislation, if introduced, might mean that it would have to shed 300 jobs. It made this threat specific, fingering its 200-employee bottling plant at Grangemouth as a likely closure and positing the loss of a further 100 distillery jobs.
It has now admitted that this figure of possible job losses was based on the scenario of minimum pricing per unit of alcohol being introduced right across the UK – and it has further admitted that its calculations were based on the minimum price set being 50p per unit.
The Scottish Government has always talked in terms of a minimum price of 40p per unit; and Scottish Government legislation does not, of course, apply outside Scotland.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon’s description of Whyte & Mackay’s behaviour as ‘disingenuous’, is, on the evidence, fully justified.
The proposed measures in the Alcohol Bill may not, however get through the Scottish Parliament. The drinks industry is led by hugely wealthy companies like the world’s biggest, Diageo, whose CEO, Paul Walsh, is coincidentally Chair of the Scotch Whisky Association.
These companies have massive lobbying power and they use it.
The opposition parties at Holyrood have, shamingly, indicated that they will block the introduction of minimum pricing, though it is widely agreed that it is a measure likely to impact on the binge drinking youth market.
So much for the corporate social responsibility many of the leading companies claim.
Excellent commentary.
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that’s it better toe the party line or you’ll be expelled like your snp helensburgh councillor
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kintyre1 should reserve his comment for what he knows about and we would then have silence.Trying to engage this individual in debate is like trying to nail jelly to a wall.Not only does he hide behind a pseudonym but he never ever declares or suggests any policy that he might be prepared to defend. At times he sounds like a Thatcherite Tory but at other times he seems even more extreme! Genghis Khan would be to the left of him. He does not criticise the present Labour government and seems to find little to find fault with our valiant MP.Why not come out and show your true colours? We know what you are against but what are youi for?
I watched the Whyte and MacKay spokesman appearing before the Health Committee at Holyrood yesterday and have to say that he was all over the place.
He appeared to suggest that the “bog standard” whisky that his company produced for bottom of the range sale under supermarket labels would struggle to survive in competition with better quality whiskies that would be unaffected by the Minumum Pricing proposals. That of course is the purpose of the legislation as part of the policy to reduce dependency on low cost alcohol and the binge drinking that is so damaging to the health of Scotland.
It then transpired that this spokesman was not aware that the SG proposals would be for Scotland only although there are indications that Minimum Pricing attracts a deal of informed support across the political spectrum in England and in Wales.
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