Scots alcohol plans set for a rough ride

Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) plans to raise the off-trade purchase age to 21 are set for a rough ride in Parliament today.

The Scottish Conservatives have already voiced their strong opposition to raising the off-trade purchase age and have urged other opposition parties to join them to defeat the proposal.

"We will be making a bid in the Scottish Parliament to get a clear statement of parliamentary intent on the SNP's plans and we are confident this will have cross-party support," said Murdo Fraser MSP, shadow cabinet secretary for education & lifelong learning.

"Scottish Conservatives were the first party to come out and oppose the half-baked plan to raise the age for purchasing alcohol in off-sales from 18 to 21.

"Since then, we have seen many others follow suit, including the SNP's student wing. If the SNP were unable to persuade even their own normally ultra-loyal student activists to support this ludicrous policy, there is not the slightest prospect of them being able to persuade the rest of the country."

Demonstration​

Students will also lead a demonstration outside Parliament led by the Coalition Against Raising the Drinking Age in Scotland (Cardas), which has gathered over 10,000 signatures on a petition.

"We very much welcome moves led by the Scottish Conservative Party to force an open and honest debate in the Scottish Parliament on this daft and discriminatory proposal," said Cardas co-ordinator Tom French.

"With such a wealth of evidence now clearly highlighting that raising the minimum purchase age will not help tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland it is about time that the Scottish Government faced the music and allowed these plans to be openly scrutinised so they can be seen for what they are."

NUS president Gurjit Singh added: "The Scottish Government has presented some statistically flawed pilot projects and a small survey of young people in which, by the Government's own admission, only a third of respondents supported this move.

"We are delighted that our campaign is now gathering momentum and hope that, come Thursday, the SNP will be forced to rethink this unworkable and ill-thought out proposal."

The SNP also wants to introduce minimum pricing in Scotland.