The Scottish Government has revived its controversial policy of raising the drinking age for under-21s buying alcohol in off-licences.

The Scottish National Party’s plan of rolling out the scheme across Scotland suffered a crushing defeat in the Scottish Parliament last year, and it later shelved another plan to let councils and police influence the drinking age.

18 to 21-year-olds would still be able to drink in pubs and clubs if councils were to implement the scheme.

The long-awaited ‘Alcohol Bill’ has angered student leaders who thought that the SNP had ditched the plans altogether. EUSA Vice-President for Services James Wallace said:

“The SNP are extremely naïve if they think that raising the drinking age to 21 will improve the drinking problem and culture exhibited in Scotland. Telling those that can vote and die for their country that they are somehow too incompetent to drink over dinner is absurd, but don’t worry because the SNP allows you to drink in clubs or even if you go out for dinner!   

“Under these proposals the age to buy alcohol could be different in Glasgow to Edinburgh, it will have people going south from Gretna Green to buy their wine, and it is quite frankly ridiculous.   

“I urge all students to oppose this.”

Other aspects of the ‘Alcohol Bill’ include a ‘minimum pricing’ scheme, which intends to make the cheapest off-licence booze more expensive.  

Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the bill, if passed, would help to tackle Scotland’s culture of alcohol abuse. She said: “The Alcohol Bill represents a once in a generation chance to turn around Scotland’s drink problems.

“The 3,000 deaths, 42,000 hospital stays and 110,000 GP visits linked to alcohol annually are causing misery for families and communities, burdening our public services and sapping our economic potential.

“But simply acknowledging we have a problem is not enough. Now is the time for action. These targeted measures get to the heart of the problem - particularly addressing the rock-bottom pricing of low-grade ciders, lagers and spirits favoured by problem drinkers. No-one can seriously argue that selling strong drink for pocket money prices isn’t fuelling heavy consumption.

“The eyes of the world are on Scotland to show that we have the courage to be bold for the sake of public health. I would urge everyone to unite behind this Bill.”

She said the duty on licensing boards to consider raising the off-sales age to 21 would ‘develop local solutions to local problems.’

The bill faces a rough reception in the Scottish Parliament, with opposition parties refusing to back parts of the legislation.  

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has said the proposals for a 40p charge per unit of alcohol will fail to tackle alcohol abuse and may be illegal under European competition law.

When similar proposals were put forward earlier this year, councillors on Edinburgh City Council’s licensing board were reluctant to move ahead with them. SNP councillor Norman Work told The Student in March that there was ‘no chance of raising the drinking age in areas where a lot of students live.’

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