Tories turn screw on plans to raise off-sales age to 21

government will be under fire in debate

By Tim Pauling

Published:

Government plans to raise the age for alcohol off-sales to 21 will be criticised in the Scottish Parliament next week.

The Tories have chosen the proposal as one of the topics in its debating time on Thursday.

Ministers have been mounting a rearguard action in the face of criticism from opposition parties, retailers, and young people.

Critics claim it will discriminate against law-abiding people. They say members of the armed forces under 21 will not be able to buy a bottle of wine to celebrate their homecoming, and students will be unable to buy a bottle to celebrate graduation.

The medical profession and anti-alcohol campaigners support the move.

They believe a concerted effort is needed to turn around Scotland’s drinking culture and the health damage it causes.

Mixed messages have been coming from the SNP administration in Edinburgh.

Ministers have set out to defend the scheme, but others have refused to pre-judge the results of a consultation.

The Tories’ deputy leader, Murdo Fraser, will be leading next week’s debate.

He said: “We will be making a bid to get a clear statement of parliamentary intent on the SNP’s plans and we are confident this will have cross-party support.”

Tom French, co-ordinator of the Coalition Against Raising the Drinking Age in Scotland, welcomed the debate on “this daft and discriminatory” proposal.

“With such a wealth of evidence now clearly highlighting that raising the minimum purchase age will not help tackle misuse, it is about time the government allowed these plans to be openly scrutinised so they can be seen for what they are,” he said.

Cardas and the National Union of Students in Scotland have submitted a 10,000-signature petition against the move.

NUS Scotland president Gurjit Singh said: “We are delighted that our campaign is now gathering momentum and hope that the SNP will rethink this unworkable and ill-thought out proposal.”