McMillan Hits Out at Opposition to Alcohol Bill

Stuart McMillan MSP, (SNP) spoke of the "ridiculous" opposition to parts of the Alcohol Bill in the Scottish Parliament.

The Bill was passed at stage three today (Wednesday 10 November), however opposition parties were vociferous in their denial of minimum pricing as a potential life and money saving measure in the Bill.

Mr. McMillan said;

"I welcome the passing of this bill as a start to tackling Scotland's abusive relationship with alcohol.

"However, I am still flabbergasted at the vehemence with which minimum pricing was met by the opposition.

"Labour in particular have acted with arrogance throughout this process in their dismissal of experts knowledge and opinion. The overwhelming majority of police chiefs, health chiefs and industry officials were in favour of minimum pricing as one of many measures to tackle problem drinkers.

"The key here is problem drinkers, in that it is not the beverage that is the problem, but those consuming it. Another fact Labour seemed keen to ignore when it came to their attempt at introducing a clause banning caffeinated alcohol.

"I have yet to see a riot kick off in front in a cafe after one too many espressos. This was a ludicrously ill thought-out argument and I'm glad it did not get through in the Bill.

"We must now move forward with the implementation of the new Act and work towards a safer, healthier and wealthier Scotland without such a turbulent dependency on alcohol."