Committee
Health and Sport Committee 22 September 2010
22 Sep 2010 · S3 · Health and Sport Committee
Item of business
Alcohol etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
I have some short comments to make. I will not rehearse all the arguments that other people have made.It is clear that there is a dispute in the committee about the effect of price increases, but there is no dispute whatsoever about price decreases. That brings me to the proposed sunset clause. If minimum pricing were implemented and found not to work, we could never implement that sunset clause, because that would lead to a price decrease, which would lead to an increase in consumption. The sunset clause would never work, because it would encourage people to drink by decreasing prices after a six-year period.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Christine Grahame)
SNP
Good morning and welcome to the 26th meeting in 2010 of the Health and Sport Committee. I remind everyone to switch off mobile phones and other electronic eq...
The Convener
SNP
Amendment 2, in the name of the cabinet secretary, is grouped with amendments 3 to 5, 1, 6 and 7.
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing (Nicola Sturgeon)
SNP
I apologise in advance for my relatively lengthy opening remarks as I attempt to address all the amendments in the group.Amendments 3 and 5 are technical ame...
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
Since the Scottish National Party came to power as a minority Government, we have faced many difficult decisions, but no one could accuse the Scottish Conser...
Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
I started the process by acknowledging, along with all other members, that Scotland had a serious problem with alcohol—a problem that was growing. The Labour...
The Convener
SNP
I have no wish to suppress submissions from members. However, where members agree with something that another member has just said, it would be helpful if th...
Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab)
Lab
I support everything that Richard Simpson and Mary Scanlon have said in connection with amendment 1. As we have heard, both the cabinet secretary and the com...
Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD)
LD
I will not vote in favour of the Government’s minimum price policy; I will vote for Mary Scanlon’s amendment. I will do that because I am not persuaded by th...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
I have some short comments to make. I will not rehearse all the arguments that other people have made.It is clear that there is a dispute in the committee ab...
Ian McKee (Lothians) (SNP)
SNP
As we know, the result of the vote is more or less preordained, so members will be relieved to hear that I do not intend to add greatly to the logorrhoea to ...
Michael Matheson (Falkirk West) (SNP)
SNP
I believe that the minimum unit pricing proposal in the bill is a serious attempt to implement an effective measure to tackle Scotland’s relationship with al...
The Convener
SNP
Unusually, I will say something from the chair. The cabinet secretary might recall that, many moons ago, when I was in a shadow cabinet, I was completely opp...
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
I am grateful to all members for their contributions to the debate today. Unsurprisingly, I do not agree with all of them; nevertheless, the debate has been ...
The Convener
SNP
I thank the cabinet secretary and members of the committee for conducting a testy debate in a dignified manner, if I am allowed to use the word “dignified”.T...
The Convener
SNP
There will be a division.ForGrahame, Christine (South of Scotland) (SNP)Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)McKee, Ian (Lothians) (SNP)AgainstEadie, Helen ...
The Convener
SNP
The result of the division is: For 3, Against 3, Abstentions 2. I exercise my casting vote in favour of the amendment.Amendment 2 agreed to.Amendment 3 moved...
The Convener
SNP
The question is, that amendment 3 be agreed to. Are we agreed?Members: No.
The Convener
SNP
There will be a division.ForGrahame, Christine (South of Scotland) (SNP)Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)McKee, Ian (Lothians) (SNP)AgainstEadie, Helen ...
The Convener
SNP
The result of the division is: For 3, Against 3, Abstentions 2. I exercise my casting vote in favour of the amendment.Amendment 3 agreed to.Amendment 4 moved...
The Convener
SNP
The question is, that amendment 4 be agreed to. Are we agreed?Members: No.
The Convener
SNP
There will be a division.ForGrahame, Christine (South of Scotland) (SNP)Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)McKee, Ian (Lothians) (SNP)AgainstEadie, Helen ...
The Convener
SNP
The result of the division is: For 3, Against 3, Abstentions 2. I exercise my casting vote in favour of the amendment.Amendment 4 agreed to.Amendment 5 moved...
The Convener
SNP
The question is, that amendment 5 be agreed to. Are we agreed?Members: No.
The Convener
SNP
There will be a division.ForGrahame, Christine (South of Scotland) (SNP)Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)McKee, Ian (Lothians) (SNP)AgainstEadie, Helen ...
The Convener
SNP
The result of the division is: For 3, Against 3, Abstentions 2. I exercise my casting vote in favour of the amendment.Amendment 5 agreed to.Amendment 1 moved...
The Convener
SNP
The question is, that amendment 1 be agreed to. Are we agreed?Members: No.
The Convener
SNP
There will be a division.ForEadie, Helen (Dunfermline East) (Lab)Finnie, Ross (West of Scotland) (LD)Grant, Rhoda (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)Scanlon, Mary ...
The Convener
SNP
The result of the division is: For 5, Against 3, Abstentions 0.Amendment 1 agreed to.After section 1Amendments 6 and 7 not moved.
The Convener
SNP
This is a suitable time for the committee and the cabinet secretary to have a short break.10:53 Meeting suspended. 11:03 On resuming— Section 2—Minimum pri...
The Convener
SNP
Amendment 33, in the name of Mary Scanlon, is the only amendment in the group.