Life is sweet

A recent news item puts the lie to claims by the SNP that raising the price of alcohol will not see Scots travelling to Berwick and Carlisle in search of cheaper booze.

Another product which is bad for one’s health is sugar and the Norwegians, who are objects of SNP idolatry, have recently raised the prices of that product to much higher levels. However, their Scandinavian neighbours, the Swedes have not. In fact, they don’t have a sugar tax at all. Norwegians have been found who have travelled up to 1,200 miles according to BBC News to get their sugar fix. In Norway, sugary drinks are taxed at 43p a litre and sugary sweets at £3.34 a kilo. The Swedes are coining it in, with one enterprise claiming to be the biggest sweetshop in the world.

People know that too much sugar is bad for their teeth and for their health. It also makes them fat, as we have discovered here too. However, having access to cheaper supplies over the border, be they of sugar or alcohol, will simply make people travel to buy it. Rather like the Swedes, I have no doubts that both Berwick and Carlisle will prosper thanks to the SNP’S legislation and people will still drink just as much as they do now. They will travel to buy cheaper booze, or make sacrifices elsewhere in their budget to fund their drinking. It’s called human psychology.

ANDREW HN GRAY Craiglea Drive, Edinburgh