Minimum price for Alcohol in Scotland

[mercalia]

what it does mean is that the producers who make cheap low grade booze will be put out of business? since £5+ buys a half decent bottle of wine?

[meic]

In the Scottish case.

The move is not a tax or duty increase. It is a price hike for the cheapest drink, with any extra cash going to the retailer.

I suppose what they could have done would have been to increase the duty to the equivalent of 50p per unit. That would avoid all the charges of shop profiteering.

They dont have the powers to change that sort of duty, it isnt devolved from UK.
This is a power that they do have.

We did some rough sums on cigarette duty last night and in effect the duty alone gives them a minimum price of around £4 plus VAT per 20 pack. So even though they dont have a legal minimum price, in practice they do.

[irc]

I really do not think that it will affect the middleclass much, the stuff that they buy will be above this price already.

Not necessarily. For example single malt whisky won't be affected. On the other hand the common special offers of Grouse, or Gordon's Gin for £15 a litre will be up to £20. Plenty big brands which are not rotgut products are sometimes offered at the £15 or £16 per L point. No more.

Then there is the fact that the 50p is only the start point. Once nanny state establishes the principle increases will follow.

As to the practicalities can the Scottish Govy stop me buying booze online from an English source and getting it delivered to Scotland?

[pete75]

As to the practicalities can the Scottish Govy stop me buying booze online from an English source and getting it delivered to Scotland?

They have no control over English retailers.

[Mick F]

People in Gretna, will shop in Carlisle .............. but they probably do anyway as it's much nearer than Dumfries.

[Tangled Metal]

My local regional supermarket used to sell single malt for less than £20 a litre. I suspect that's less than the new minimum pricing.

Fortunately we're in England. Now I've got two reasons to gloat. Decent single malt from Scotland cheaper than Scots can buy it over the border. Also we don't have SNP down here neither.

I personally appreciate the goals but not the approach. I know that's their only action to take with alcohol duties being Westminster controlled. However minimum pricing which raises prices with the extra going to the retailer? That doesn't seem right. Is there really not another way?

[irc]

My local regional supermarket used to sell single malt for less than £20 a litre. I suspect that's less than the new minimum pricing.

Fortunately we're in England. Now I've got two reasons to gloat. Decent single malt from Scotland cheaper than Scots can buy it over the border.

Actually no. For 40% ABV spirits minimum price will be £14 for a 70cl bottle. If you can buy a single malt for that price please let me know, I'll be going there. Lidl do a decent blended malt for £14 (70cl). I guess that will be a casualty of this law. Once grain whisky is bumped up to £14 they will add a pound or two to anything better.

[thirdcrank]

... Is there really not another way?

Dye it purple and add methanol?

[Bmblbzzz]

In the Scottish case.

I suppose what they could have done would have been to increase the duty to the equivalent of 50p per unit. That would avoid all the charges of shop profiteering.

They dont have the powers to change that sort of duty, it isnt devolved from UK.
This is a power that they do have.

We did some rough sums on cigarette duty last night and in effect the duty alone gives them a minimum price of around £4 plus VAT per 20 pack. So even though they dont have a legal minimum price, in practice they do.

Thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't considered the specific powers relevant. As there is no "England parliament", I wonder if this and the Welsh legislation, assuming it's successful, will lead to a UK measure. Or will we end up with a patchwork of different prices like driving from dry to wet counties in the USA?

[PH]

All the price examples are based on 50p per unit, but this hasn’t been decided. That’s was the intended price on 2012 before the appeal, the court ruling didn’t set a price, it cleared up the legality of the Scottish Parliament doing so.

[Tangled Metal]

One but if news said something similar but added that 50p was the original but they were likely to increase it after it has been implemented. That was just the starting figure not the figure they were aiming for

[irc]

One but if news said something similar but added that 50p was the original but they were likely to increase it after it has been implemented. That was just the starting figure not the figure they were aiming for

Market forces will prevent them raising it too far. At 60p per unit a 1 litre bottle of 40% abv spirits is up at £24. Perfectly decent stuff like Aldi Lidl own brand Gin is currently around £14 a litre. Grouse, Smirnoff etc often at £15 or £16 per litre. Why would anyone buy in Scotland rather than ordering online. Or club together with friends or family and do a booze run to Carlisle every 3 months.

Creating big price differential between adjacent markets with no border controls just encourages smuggling as well. Even in the case of UK tobacco smuggling where there is a sea crossong or air trip and customs control to cope with it was estimated that in "2012/13 up to 16% of cigarette and 48% of handrolling tobacco consumption was NUKDP."

http://the-tma.org.uk/tma-publications- ... t-summary/

[pete75]

My local regional supermarket used to sell single malt for less than £20 a litre. I suspect that's less than the new minimum pricing.

Fortunately we're in England. Now I've got two reasons to gloat. Decent single malt from Scotland cheaper than Scots can buy it over the border. Also we don't have SNP down here neither.

I doubt you've been getting a decent single malt for less than £20 a litre. I don't doubt you've been getting a single malt for that price.

No we don't have the SNP in England - the S stands for Scottish which may be a hint as to why. The English equivalents have names like BNP and UKIP and are far worse.

[irc]

I doubt you've been getting a decent single malt for less than £20 a litre. I don't doubt you've been getting a single malt for that price.

On malts worth a try is Lidl's Islay single malt at under £18 (for 70cl) . Not quite £20 per L bu to me it is as good as many big names single malts in the £20-£30 per bottle bracket.

http://www.whiskyboys.com/2017/06/05/li ... gle-malts/

Being a Lidl brand it loses poser value of course but I think the taste is right up there. I'm curious as to which Islay distillery it comes.

[thirdcrank]

I can only assume that the minimum price policy must have been having some effect on the whisky trade - or threatened to do so - or the distillers' trade body wouldn't have fought such a protracted legal battle trying to have it declared unlawful.