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The Scottish Deputy First Minister and Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has unveiled new legislation requiring a minimum price for alcohol as part of the licensing process.  The minority SNP government in the last Scottish Parliament, had tried to legislate the same last year but opposition MSPs blocked the motion in Holyrood despite support from the police and health professionals.

However, since the SNP has a majority in the Scottish Parliament now, it is almost certain that this new bill would become law in 2012.  The SNP Deputy Leader Ms. Sturgeon argued that “alcohol is one of the most pressing public health challenges facing us as a nation and we need to take action to tackle it.”

According to official figures the alcohol consumption in Scotland is almost a quarter higher than in other parts of the United Kingdom, the biggest gap ever recorded since the comparisons were first introduced in 1994. In addition, according to estimates by the Scottish government, alcohol related costs dent the public purse by £3.5 Billion each year.

Ms. Sturgeon had pledged to bring in the bill to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol during the SNP’s annual conference last month but there is still opposition from the Labour party.  The Scottish Labour party believes that setting a minimum price for alcohol alone would not solve Scotland’s alcohol problems .

"Scottish Labour has proposed a whole raft of measures that we believe will help tackle Scotland's relationship with alcohol, but the SNP's narrowly-defined bill - designed to shut down debate - means other proposals cannot even be considered,” Dr Richard Simpson, Scottish Labour Health Spokesperson said. "The SNP think minimum unit pricing is some sort of magical silver bullet, but unfortunately no one measure is going to tackle Scotland's relationship with alcohol.”

However in an emailed statement, the Scottish Health Secretary defended the SNP Government’s record in tackling alcohol related problems in the past five years. “"We should not lose sight of what has been achieved during the last four years. We have had a wide-ranging debate on alcohol pricing and there is now widespread recognition across the country of the need to tackle pricing,” she said.

"We have introduced a ban on quantity discounts and promotions in off-sales have been restricted, but already we have seen that without minimum pricing these attempts to take action on Scotland's alcohol problem are being undermined,” she added. “"By setting a minimum price for a unit of alcohol, we can raise the price of the cheap supermarket white ciders, lager and value spirits sought out by problem drinkers.”

She vowed to lead the “way in addressing this challenge” as she pointed out it was time for “Scotland to win its battle with the booze.”