WHISKY chiefs have made the extraordinary claim that the SNP's policy of minimum pricing on alcohol will cost the flagship Scottish industry a massive £600 million a year in lost export sales.
As MSPs meet today to debate the controversial alcohol crackdown, the Scotch Whisky Association claimed that the plans would wipe out 20 per cent of the entire overseas market.
They claim that foreign countries are desperate to slap higher import tariffs on Scotch and will use Scotland's own minimum price policy to enact their own "copycat" measures.
But SNP ministers last night denied the claims, and went on the offensive, calling on the drinks trade to come up with its own solution to Scotland's £2 billion-a-year drink problem.
The centrepiece of a bill, to be published later this month, is a plan to impose a 40p-per-unit minimum price on all alcohol sold in Scotland. New analysis released by the Scottish Government yesterday showed how cheap spirits, ciders and beers would all increase in price by between £1 and £3.50. However, more costly branded drinks would not be affected.
But the whisky industry says the wider knock-on impact of the minimum price scheme has not been measured.
The whisky trade is pointing to countries such as South Korea which has previously tried to slap a higher health tax on Scotch to protect its weaker home-grown Soju. It also fears copycat legislation in Scotch-importing countries including France, Thailand and Venezuela.
Whisky bosses say if a Scottish minimum price was introduced, such countries could point to it as a way of avoiding the usual free-trade rules which bar discrimination against imports.
David Williamson, spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association, said: "On the basis of studies into Scotch whisky's price sensitivity, the industry estimates that £600m in whisky exports every year are threatened as the government proposal gives the green light to export markets to discriminate against Scotch whisky."
However, a Scottish Government spokesman said: "One Scot is dying an alcohol-related death every three hours and taxpayers are footing a £2.25bn annual bill. As a government, it would be totally irresponsible for us to ignore this issue."
Much of the attention today will fall on the Labour group at Holyrood, which has yet to say whether or not it will back the minimum pricing policy. If it does support the SNP, there would be a parliamentary majority in favour.
However, there is growing speculation that it will oppose the plans, meaning that the SNP's proposals would fall.
Speaking to The Scotsman, former leader Jack McConnell, who introduced the smoking ban as First Minister, said that he believed a minimum price policy was "the wrong priority".
He said: "I think the strategy of making alcohol more expensive for the decent majority of people rather than concentrating on enforcement and stopping the lawbreaking and abuse of alcohol is a flawed strategy."
But Theresa Fyffe, director of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said: "We fully support plans for minimum pricing for alcohol, alongside other measures, to tackle the harm caused by problem drinking."
