Sturgeon’s alcohol war gathers pace and an even bigger bill

MAYBE Nicola Sturgeon once got thrown out of a pub for being a wee bit drunk or was refused entry for being inappropriately dressed but, whatever the reason, it is crystal clear she doesn’t like them very much. To be fair, she’s been itching to close them ever since she re-opened them again back in those carefree days of July.

Now she has and the backlash has been fast and furious, with her being accused of basically throwing two key sectors of Scotland’s economy, hospitality and tourism, under a bus.

The First Minister, in effect, has turned Scotland into the only prohibitionist country in Europe as the SNP’S war on alcohol steps up a gear.

The draconian decision to shut every pub in the Central Belt, ban restaurants from selling alcohol and forcing Scots in other parts of the country to drink outside in autumn smacks of state-control and nothing more.

The bizarre series of announcements yesterday is proof of a Government that has lost the plot completely and one which blames the population’s drinking habits for the coronavirus spread so has effectively banned alcohol.

How else can you explain being able to meet your mother for a toastie and a cup of tea in a cafe, but not being able to take her for a lunchtime bowl of pasta and a glass of wine or visit her in her own house.

It’s absurd and will do nothing to halt the spread of Covid. In fact it will make it worse as people will now just get a carryout and go to each other’s homes instead.

Where fans could socially distance in a controlled environment and watch the football with their friends in a pub, now they will gather in large numbers in each other’s homes to do the same, without the safeguard of staff monitoring them.

For weeks, she has said the science shows that the virus is being predominantly transmitted from houses, mainly at parties, so she banned us all from visiting anyone.

But yesterday she threw that completely on its head when she said the R number started going up as soon as she opened the pubs, which sounds like she may have been misleading us for months.

She sought to justify the closures by saying that more than one fifth of those traced had visited hospitality at some point. This, of course, means that four fifths didn’t but she closed them anyway.

Just because she can and has been desperate to do so, safe in the knowledge that the Treasury will pick up the tab.