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Meeting of the Parliament 24 May 2012

24 May 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Bill

Carlaw, Jackson Con West Scotland Watch on SPTV

This has been a short but slightly depressing debate in the sense that, even at this late stage, the argument about the bill has continued even though, after all the discussion that we have had about it over a considerable period, the balance of evidence has shifted and, despite the Labour Party’s concern about and position on the alleged windfall, there is a clear view across the chamber that alcohol minimum pricing’s time has come and there is support for it from all sides of the chamber.

Willie Rennie’s speech encapsulated—for the first time in all the discussion that we have had—the question of the public’s reaction to the policy when it is implemented. It has been said before that the Conservatives are fond of using Scotland as a guinea pig for new taxes—maybe that is not an argument that I will revisit this afternoon. In essence, however, this is a pioneering policy that we are implementing first in Scotland ahead of anywhere else.

When we were discussing the amendments, I made the point that, although the Conservatives would have liked duty to have been used, the sad truth is that, although duty ultimately raises money for the Inland Revenue and the Exchequer, the public perception of duty is not that it raises money to improve public health, but that it simply raises money for the Government. However, the very point of minimum pricing is that it does not raise money for the Government. Therefore, it cannot be argued—as Willie Rennie put it in discussing the policy’s unpopularity—that the Government is implementing the policy because it wants to raise cash. The integrity that underpins the policy—the fact that the Government is implementing it because it believes that it will have a material effect on public health in Scotland—stands as a virtue.

We would like to see a participative relationship with the industry, and I hope that that will be forthcoming.

I want to return to the arguments of the Labour Party. I suppose that, in some ways, I should be pleased that the auld enemy is going to vote differently on the policy and to stand apart, but I genuinely do not believe that that is what Labour members, in their hearts, wish to find themselves doing, and the legislation will not benefit from that happening. They have made the windfall argument their red line, but I have to repeat that I do not recall, even when we discussed our joint scepticism of the legislation in the committee, that they stood up and said, “Look, we might finally be persuaded that this will work, but we’re not going to support it for as long as there will be a windfall, as we see it, for the retail industry.” That was never said until, suddenly, at stage 2, it became the rock on which everything was subsequently to depend.

It is clear that, unfortunately, Labour is not prepared to support a policy that emanates from a Scottish National Party Government unless Labour’s imprimatur is on it and Labour can claim ownership of it in some way. The Parliament could unite behind a public health measure that will advance the public health of Scotland. In the final analysis, of all the reasons to oppose the bill, for Labour to oppose it simply because the SNP proposed it is the saddest, most reprehensible and most depressing fact of all.

I know that there are members sitting behind the Labour front bench who do not want to be on the wrong side of the argument, who work closely with the police, the public health service, consultants and people in accident and emergency services, who have said to them, “This policy will advance public health in Scotland.” I say to Labour members, although they will probably not believe it, that if they change their minds, we will not exploit that.

The Parliament has an opportunity to put its differences behind it and to unite behind a policy that we hope will work, which we must see does work, and which will advance the public health of Scotland.

16:42

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Meeting of the Parliament 24 May 2012

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