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So urgent is the need to find a solution to the matter the Scottish Government has called an Alcohol Summit in the middle of recess.  The Government invited opposition parties to the Parliament on Wednesday in order to discuss the Alcohol (Scotland) Bill and specifically the issue of minimum pricing. 

It cannot be argued that there is no alcohol problem in Scotland.  It was reported earlier this year that alcohol misuse cost Scotland £3.56 billion each year or £900 for every adult.  Healthcare costs were over £230 million of this, crime accounted for more than £720 million, the cost to the productivity of the Scottish economy was £865 million and the human cost in terms of suffering caused by premature deaths was £1.4 billion.  With Scotland’s budget forecast to shrink by £3.7 billion in real terms over the next 3 years, this is a problem that needs to be put front and centre.

The outset of Wednesday’s summit was that the Government have proposed the introduction of minimum pricing and are fully committed to implementing this with the figure mooted to be set at 40p.  In support they have the BMA, the police, alcohol support groups: generally quite a strong lobby.  In opposition they have, well, The Opposition: Labour, Lib Dems and the Tories. 

Realising this strong opposition to minimum pricing – when the Bill was put to a stage 1 vote in June minimum pricing was defeated 54-49 – Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has offered to introduce a ‘sunset clause’.  This ‘sunset clause’ allows minimum pricing to be introduced for a set period of time to view its impact on excessive drinking and at a set review date, should the Parliament remain unconvinced of its merits, minimum pricing would cease to be.  If Ms Sturgeon felt this to be a fair compromise, her opponents did not agree.

The Opposition have used this opportunity to attack the Government.  Jackie Baillie and Murdo Fraser (Labour and Tory Health Spokespersons respectively) have suggested that this is an admission by the Cabinet Secretary that there is no evidence to support the introduction of minimum pricing. 

It is perfectly acceptable that The Opposition do not think minimum pricing is the best way to tackle Scotland’s alcohol scourge, yet their rejection of the new offer seemed all too premeditated.  Almost immediately following the summit Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems read out a joint statement echoing their individual views and proposing instead a ‘floor price’ on alcohol whereby alcohol price rises with duty. 

Devolution and the Scottish Parliament were supposed to lead the way into a new era of political cooperation and consensus building.  However, in this instance – and perhaps rather a lot of others – there appears to be a distinct lack of either.  Almost before the Government suggests that grass is green The Opposition are arguing that it is in fact blue and there is no evidence to support the Governments claims.  From this point on, parties (all of them) leave themselves with no room for manoeuvre.  They dare not change a previous stance as it would inevitably be described as a “humiliating climb down”.  Is this really how our Parliament was envisaged to work?

Maybe minimum pricing isn’t the answer that Scotland is looking for to cure its alcohol ills.  Maybe the answer isn’t a ‘floor price’ either.  However, in the absence of stronger suggestions why not take advantage of inserting a ‘sunset clause’?  No one is going to win or lose the next election by agreeing to it so why not give it a try?  This issue is one in which our MSPs must look beyond party politics and enact something that might go some way to aiding the health of our country.  If it doesn’t work then fine we start again but in the mean time what else have we got?

Throughout the rest of this year and the run up to the election in May all discussions are going to be dominated by talk of cuts, where they should happen and by how much they’re going to impact on frontline services.  These debates will in time dwarf the debate surrounding minimum pricing and it would surely be to the benefit of the country if all parties put partisanship to one side and focused on minimising the impact of the cuts.

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