BELLSHILL WHISKY WORKERS HAVE “NOTHING TO FEAR” FROM MINIMUM PRICING
Christina McKelvie MSP has accepted Michael McMahon MSP’s invitation to her to join him in a visit the Grant’s whisky plant in Bellshill, and has issued her own invitation to Mr McMahon to join her in a visit to a local Accident and Emergency department to see for himself the impact that pocket money-priced alcohol has on health and public order in Lanarkshire.
Ms McKelvie was responding to an attack on her by Mr McMahon, which wrongly claimed that the SNP government’s plans to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol would threaten the jobs of workers at the historic William Grant’s distillery.
Ms McKelvie said:
“I have written to Michael McMahon to take him up on his invitation to visit Grant’s with him. I welcome the opportunity to counter his inaccurate scaremongering and reassure the workers there that they have nothing to fear from minimum pricing.
“Their products, which include quality whisky brands such as Grant’s, Glenfiddich and Balvenie, are already sold well above the price level that would be affected by minimum pricing legislation, as are the vast majority of Scotch whisky brands.
“In return, perhaps Mr McMahon would like to come with me to any one of the three Accident and Emergency Departments in Lanarkshire on a Friday or Saturday night and talk to the staff there about the devastating impact that cheap drink can have, and which they see first hand night after night.”
Mr McMahon issued an attack on Ms McKelvie after she challenged him to vote in support of the Scottish government’s minimum pricing proposalsci Mr McMahon’s constituency of Hamilton North and Bellshill suffers the 13th highest number of alcohol-related deaths in Scotland, with death rates at twice the UK average.
In his attack on Ms McKelvie, Mr McMahon made a number of other inaccurate and easily rebutted claims:
Claim: The SNP have been more interested in attacking their opponents than working with us to deliver workable policies to tackle Scotland’s problem with alcohol.
Fact: The SNP government welcomed Labour’s initial commitment to keep an open mind on the issue of minimum pricing. It was Labour who, on the day the Alcohol Bill was published, announced a U-turn and said that they would oppose the policy without even listening to the evidence put to Parliament.
Claim: The SNP have refused to provide any evidence that their plan is legal under EU rules.
Fact: The Scottish Government’s clear advice is that, because the minimum price is for a unit of alcohol, it will affect all products equally, is no barrier to trade and is therefore entirely legal under EU rules. The Health Secretary has repeatedly offered to work with other parties to allay any legal concerns they may have.
Claim: They have refused to say what level of increase they intend to set either
Fact: The Bill is designed to get an agreement to the principle of minimum pricing. The specific price will be determined by secondary legislation – as is normal practice with any legislation. MSPs from all parties will have an opportunity to debate this during the Bill’s passage through Parliament.
Claim: No amount of increase in price will deter some people with severe alcohol addiction from buying alcoholic products yet the SNP have provided no information on a strategy to help people defeat their alcoholism
Fact: A recent study by Queen Margaret University into severe problem drinkers showed that they were paying significantly less per unit than moderate drinkers (average 43p, as opposed to 72p). Another recent study from the University Sheffield found that a 40p minimum price would cause a total a fall in consumption of 5.4%, concentrated specifically among hazardous and harmful drinkers. It concludes: ”Those who buy the most alcohol are the most affected in both absolute and relative terms: changes in spending affect mostly harmful drinkers, with hazardous drinkers somewhat affected and spending for moderate drinkers affected very little.
Ms McKelvie continued:
“Michael McMahon told me to “put up or shut up”. Well, today I’ve put up answers to every single one of the inaccurate and confused points he made in his attack on me – and the SNP government has put up the radical, forward-thinking legislation that we so badly need to address the harm that cheap drink can do.
“I urge Mr McMahon once again to listen to the strong support for minimum pricing expressed by the chair of NHS Lanarkshire, all four UK Chief Medical Officers, the British Medical Association, the Royal Colleges of Nursing, Physicians, Surgeons and GPs, Faculty of Public Health, British Liver Trust, Scottish Licensed Trade Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and many others at the sharp end of dealing with alcohol misuse and to join with the SNP in doing something positive about Scotland’s relationship with alcohol. It’s the least that people in Hamilton and Bellshill deserve from him.”