Alcohol price challenge thrown out

A legal challenge to the Scottish Government's plans to introduce minimum pricing per unit of alcohol has failed.

A petition led by the Scotch Whisky Assosiation was refused at Scotland's highest civil court.

It was argued that the law breaches the UK's European Union treaty obligations because it would restrain trade.

The ruling clears the way for the introduction of the minimum pricing policy.

Under the plans, the cheapest bottle of wine would be £4.69 and a four-pack of lager would cost at least £3.52.

Scottish Health Secretary Alex Neil said:

"We welcome today's favourable opinion from the Court of Session on minimum unit pricing of alcohol.

"We have always believed minimum unit pricing is the right thing to do to tackle Scotland's problematic relationship with alcohol.

"Minimum unit pricing will target cheap alcohol relative to strength that is favoured by hazardous and harmful drinkers, and which contributes to much of the alcohol-related harm we see in Scotland.

"We now look forward to being able to implement minimum unit pricing and making that transformational change in Scotland's relationship with alcohol."