Fighting legal challenge to alcohol minimum pricing costs £370,000
DEFENDING a legal challenge to the minimum pricing of alcohol policy launched by the Scotch Whisky Association has cost more than £370,000 in fees.
Ministers have had to hire top QCs and advocates in a bid to save the legislation after legal action by the SWA – a trade association to which Diageo, Highland Distillers and Chivas Brothers belong.
Alison Douglas, chief executive of the Alcohol Focus Scotland charity, accused the SWA of “delaying tactics” that “cost lives”.
Proposals to bring in a minimum price of alcohol of 50p per unit were passed by MSPs in 2012. Ministers believed the health measure would curb excessive drinking by targeting high-strength alcoholic drinks.
Under the plans, a cheap bottle of wine would rise to £4.69 and four-pack of 500ml lager would cost at least £4.
However, legal challenges by the SWA have delayed implementation of the legislation. The SWA opposed the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act in the Court of Session, but this legal bid failed.
Its lawyers argued that the measure would create a precedent whereby health concerns were allowed to interfere with the free trade of goods and services.
The SWA appealed and the case was eventually referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
In December, the ECJ declined to back minimum pricing but passed the case back to the Scottish courts. According to figures released by the Scottish Government, Ministers have spent £276,725 on QC fees in relation to the SWA cases since 2012.
Advocates – junior counsel – have pocketed £78,690 and £14,703 was incurred in “miscellaneous” costs. The biggest item of spending was £135,025 to QCs in 2012/13.
However, regardless of the outcome in the new Court of Session case, an appeal to the Supreme Court by the SWA or the Scottish government is possible.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We continue to believe that minimum alcohol pricing is the right approach for Scotland as part of a wider strategy to curb our alcohol intake.”