Scotland’s minimum pricing arguments are set out in court

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has started to set out its case in the legal challenge to the introduction of a minimum price for alcohol in Scotland.

The SWA and other European wine and spirits producers have taken legal action against the legislation introduced by the Scottish government, which would see a 50p per unit minimum price introduced.

In setting out the SWA’s case at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Aidan O’Neill QC argued that minimum pricing would hit poor drinkers and not tackle alcohol misuse.

He said health statistics show that the problem of hazardous and harmful drinking is most common among the richer sections of society.

O’Neill said: “What one can draw from that is that hazardous and harmful drinkers are more likely to be found in the rich, rather than among the poor, and the rich, by definition, have more disposable income.

“Therefore a pricing measure which targets cheap alcohol is one that can be avoided by the rich.

“If you target hazardous and harmful drinkers then a pricing measure which prices up cheap alcohol and only cheap alcohol is not one which in fact is going to make that target, because it can be avoided because the rich have more money and they can afford the pricing increase.

“What this measure does is it targets poor drinkers.”

O’Neill also cited Bulgarian wine producers as he argued that minimum pricing will cause a “distortion of the market” in the EU. Currently around 15% of the output from Bulgarian wine producers is consumed in Scotland and O’Neill said: “This measure will absolutely, undoubtedly affect Bulgarian wine producers.

“Our response is that’s not compatible with European law. We can’t distort the market in this way.”

Although Westminster supports the Scottish Parliament’s policy on minimum alcohol pricing and has set out plans for a similar policy in England and Wales, some questions have been raised in Europe about the policy.

The court heard that the European Commission and several European Union nations have submitted legal questions about the legislation and found that the measure was “disproportionate”.

O’Neill today argued that the Commission’s opinion was “highly relevant” to the current case.

“It’s not binding, but it’s certainly an authoritative view of what European law requires,” he added.

The Scottish government’s suggested 50p minimum price per unit of alcohol would take the cost of a 70cl bottle of vodka to more than £13, while the cheapest bottle of wine would be £4.69 and a four-pack of lager would cost at least £3.52.