Scots plan to stop cheap alcohol

[4me2]

Scots plan to stop cheap alcohol



The Scottish Government said it planned to ban discount deals



At-a-glance: Alcohol plans
Mixed response to drink strategy
Read Brian Taylor's blog


Measures to tackle alcohol abuse by stopping cut-price offers have been outlined by the Scottish Government.
It has proposed a range of measures including the radical step of a minimum price per unit. It would be the first country in Europe to take the step.
The minority government said it also plans to ban discount deals on alcohol.
SNP ministers decided against raising the off-sales age limit to 21 - but will create powers to allow such curbs to be imposed on a local basis.
Local chief constables will also be able to request such a move.
Other measures include restricting the display and marketing of drink to specific areas within off-sales premises. Scottish ministers also plan to create legal powers to introduce a "social responsibility fee" for some retailers.
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They decided not to go ahead with proposals to introduce alcohol-only checkouts in supermarkets and shops.
They said this had been opposed, particularly from small retailers, who lacked the floor space and staff.
Ministers denied being "anti-alcohol", amid opposition party concern that the proposals were being forced through.
The Scottish Government plans to use the existing licensing act to introduce the minimum price per unit of alcohol.
The details of that will be worked out with economists to find the most effective level. The same law will also be modified to ban drinks offers such as buy one-get-one-free and prevent the use of alcohol as a "loss leader".

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon explains why she wants to raise the price of alcohol


The paper outlining the plans pointed out that some retailers had moved away from quantity discounts to straight price cuts such as selling 24 can packs of lager for £7 or premium vodka at £6 for a 70cl bottle.
Ministers said they did not believe alcohol should be discounted in the same way as other commodities.
The blueprint said the amount of advertising by supermarkets over recent months suggested that cheap alcohol did play a key role in determining where people shop.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "Plummeting prices and aggressive promotion have led to a surge in consumption, causing and adding to health problems ranging from liver and heart diseases to diabetes, obesity, dementia and cancers.
"We have listened to those who responded to the consultation and modified our proposals where appropriate. READ THE ALCOHOL STRATEGY


Changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol: A framework for action [28KB]

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"But we remain determined to press ahead with tough policies to tackle alcohol misuse."
The Tories said the pricing plans were "horribly flawed", while Labour warned against rushing measures through.
It branded the SNP's proposals "an unworkable mess" and said they were "unsupportable" in their current form.
The Liberal Democrats warned against "stigmatising a generation" with the proposals to raise the off-sales purchase age.
Fiona Moriarty, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said the plans would add costs to responsible shoppers without making any difference to irresponsible drinking.
She said: "Irresponsible drinking is not about price or availability yet this is the main focus of the government's approach. "We need to develop solutions that educate rather than alienate, instead the government has retreated to its bunker and is neither listening to the evidence presented nor willing to tackle these issues in a consensual manner."

Shoppers in Blackburn, West Lothian, give their views alcohol pricing


The Portman Group, an alcohol industry body which promotes responsible drinking, said the government was not listening to reason.
Chief executive David Poley said: "People who drink to get drunk would not be influenced by these measures.
"We should be targeting the harmful drinking minority through better education and effective law enforcement."
Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, welcomed the focus on the "irresponsible promotions and practices in off-sales".
He said: "Not only does the SLTA agree with minimum pricing, it's a view shared by licensed trade leaders from the rest of the UK and Ireland."

Doctors and police leaders also backed the Scottish Government.
Dr Peter Terry, chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland, said: "We particularly welcome its proposals on minimum price and promotions, as evidence shows that the increased affordability of alcohol is driving the damaging levels of consumption in Scotland."
Det Ch Supt John Carnochan, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, said: "Fundamentally, if you want to reduce violence then you need to reduce access to alcohol.
"We know that the group most at risk from violence is young males aged 10 -29, so if you limit access to alcohol in certain areas then it can only be a good thing, especially as it is done with local agreement and is locally relevant." Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: "Change won't happen overnight. But the combined efforts of government, health and police services, the alcohol industry, licensed trade and the voluntary sector should ensure significantly fewer Scots' lives are affected by alcohol misuse."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7917824.stm

[Argyll]

What a stupid move by the government. This won't have any effect what so ever. England has the same cheap booze available to them but they don't have the same problems as we do. Education is the key as well as making the parents more responsible.

[TwoPlAnKs]

What a stupid move by the government. This won't have any effect what so ever. England has the same cheap booze available to them but they don't have the same problems as we do. Education is the key as well as making the parents more responsible.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

The SNP are also blatantly, outrageously and brutally ignoring the landslide parliamentary vote against the raising of the drinking age, one that saw them disagreeing with every other party and independent there. They are now trying to introduce this ill-advised and poorly justified law via local authority rulings, to gradually make each city and area in Scotland raise the age for off-sales to 21.

This is clearly a case of engingeering a situation to bully even the most democratic and justified local authorities into going along with the neighbours decisions, as more places are plauged by drunken teenagers concetrating their nights out on speific areas where they can get some cheap drink from an off license.

The fact that countires like the US have plenty of binge drinking with the drinking age at 21 throughout, whilst other countries with a drinking age of 16 have a far more acceptable answer to alcohol is getting ignored, whilst they blindly press in legislation to solve what is a social problem.

Banning 18 year olds from drinking and getting in a state, with the knockon effect of making alcohol harder to come by for younger people, is akin to banning prostitution or begging to protect the people who do it. Banning 20 year olds from buying a bottle of wine to enjoy after their graduation is an abuse of human rights.

There's also the small matter of culture in this. Scottish people are notorious for being drunks, its how we live and what we do. Alcohol has been part of our society since before the vast majority of vital things were even concieved of, and will be for a long time afterwards. It's how friendships are formed and developed, how relationships start, and how people relax.

Scotland fought for thousands of years to be fully independent from England and the UK, and did extremely well at it, until an authoritarian government did something similar to us with excessive christianity and those values, left the country in a mess and open to bankrupsy and disaster which made the forming of the Union inevitable. From that point Scotland flourished, the Scottish enlightenment, enabled from the support of England and the other countries of the UK, made us an academic leader of Europe and one of the most literate and intellegent countries in the world. Now, the SNP are trying to return to that status without realising that the very reason we got it in the first place was not being independent, and to add insult to injury, by behaving in exactly the way that will make us more and more dependent on England for years to come.

To return to the topic, this sort of dummy-spitting after the hugely obvious show of public resentment towards their plans to change the drinking age is a dark day for democracy in Scotland and the world, and something that we will see a lot more of for as long as these idiots are in power.

It does make me wonder what they'll ban next. Being dyslexic? Getting cancer? Both would be cured by legislation about as effectively as drinking problems would be.

Finally, to cheer this up a bit - the last large bout of anti-alcoholism through prohibition in Scotland came from a christian temperance movement at the start of the last centuary. Much of this was led from a church south west of Glasgow which has now been turned into a pub. Victory is ours!

[super mike]

It is reassuring to know that politicians north of the border are just as fucking retarded as the fucknuts we have here.