LIBDEM ON THE SPOT FOR WRONGFUL MINIMUM PRICING CLAIMS

Attn: NEWSDESKS




POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTS


TIME FOR OPPOSITION TO STOP PLAYING POLITICS ON CHEAP BOOZE


SNP MSP Michael Matheson - a member of the Scottish Parliament's Health Committee - has called on the Liberal Democrats' health spokesperson, Ross Finnie, to apologise for claiming an alcohol addiction specialist rejected a 45p minimum price when it is reported in the Courier today that he has given it a hearty welcome. Mr Matheson said the misleading claims just underlined how the opposition had to stop playing politics with this serious issue and address the issue seriously.


Earlier this week in the Scottish Parliament Ross Finnie claimed that Dr Peter Rice of the Royal College of Psychiatrists rejected the Scottish Government's proposed 45p minimum price and considered the appropriate level to be 50p. However in today's Courier newspaper Dr Rice is reported as giving "a hearty welcome" to the proposal to set a 45p minimum price for alcohol at 45p and said it would be "a real pity" if the minimum price proposal was not taken forward due to "party political squabbling."


Commenting Mr Matheson said:


"Ross Finnie was completely and utterly wrong to claim Dr Rice rejected a 45p minimum price and today's report leaves Mr Finnie in an embarrassing position. He should apologise to Dr Rice and actually address the case made for a 45p minimum price.


"The SNP Government and Nicola Sturgeon have been constructive on this issue and the proposed sunset clause is the means to test out this minimum price and allows the opposition a route to back this legislation.


"Minimum pricing isn't a magic bullet - we have never said that it was. But it is one of the weapons we can deploy against the effects of cheap booze and we should not be blocked from using it.


"I would urge my colleagues in Parliament like Ross Finnie to actually listen to the experts, not misrepresent them and be mature enough to put people and health before their party politics."


ENDS


Notes


1. The report in today's Courier says as follows:


Alcohol addiction specialist hails 45p pricing move


A Tayside alcohol addiction specialist last night gave "a hearty welcome" to the proposal to set the minimum price for alcohol at 45p per unit.


Dr Peter Rice, a consultant psychiatrist who heads Tayside Alcohol Problems Service, has campaigned for minimum pricing for more than three years and was part of a group of top doctors who first recommended the measure aimed at tackling Scotland's appalling record of alcohol abuse.


Dr Rice, who is also chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, warned it would be "a real pity" if the minimum price proposal was not taken forward due to "party political squabbling."


http://www.thecourier.co.uk/Community/Health/article/4622/alcohol-addiction-specialist-hails-45p-pricing-move.html


2. In the Scottish Parliament Ross Finnie said the following:


Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): Given the need for the minimum price to effect a material change in public health in order to satisfy the requirements of article 36 of the Treaty of Lisbon, can the First Minister explain why his Government appears to have rejected the advice of medical experts, such as Dr Peter Rice of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, who considered the appropriate level to be 50p, and the Faculty of Public Health in Scotland, which expressed a preference for 60p?


Scottish Parliament Official Report - 9 September 2010


http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-10/sor0909-02.htm#Col28422