An SNP MP is blaming the Labour government for forcing up the price of a New Year dram despite evidence that Holyrood’s own hike has led drinkers to head south of the border to save costs.
Festive “booze cruises” into Cumbria follow the decision by Holyrood ministers to increase the minimum unit price of alcohol by an eye-watering 30%.
The increase means a bottle of Scotch whisky costs at least £18.20, compared to a floor of £14 previously.
The lowest possible price of a 500ml can of 4% strength lager also rose from £1 to £1.30, while up to ten units of wine soared from at least £5 to £6.50.
Piers Foster, operations manager for The House of Malt in Carlisle, told The Telegraph there had been more Scots visiting the shop in recent weeks to stock up on booze ahead of the Christmas period.
The SNP MP for Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey Graham Leadbitter claimed it was Labour that was putting whisky at a competitive disadvantage after raising the duty in the October budget.
He said it was ‘high time” that Westminster listened to the Scotch Whisky Association which had warned that raising duty would be damaging to the industry and the Exchequer.
However, the SWA previously warned Scottish ministers against raising minimum unit pricing (MUP) and took the government to court.
The effectiveness of the MUP policy, introduced in 2018, remains in dispute. It is designed to reduce harm caused by alcohol yet 1,277 people died as a result of drink last year, up one from 2022 and the worst since 2008.
There has been criticism that the extra revenue from the levy makes its way to retailers rather than to measures aimed at tackling alcohol abuse.
Conservative MSP for Dumfriesshire Oliver Mundell said the policy had not only ‘failed’ to stop alcohol deaths increasing, but has also meant “tills in England are benefiting instead of ones up here”.
