Hague drinks the first of manySo for all the talk of 40p, 45p or 50p levels of pricing, of a £2bn scourge on our economy, of the legality of trying to fix our nation’s illness and of political posturing that has not always shown our Parliament in its best light, the radical change that our politicians have agreed on to win the hitherto one-sided battle against alcohol is to ban irresponsible drink promotions at off licenses and introduce a social responsibility fee. It really doesn’t go far enough I’m afraid.

Someone, somewhere has failed, but trying to look at the position as objectively as possible, I disagree with The Scotsman’s view that it is the SNP who has suffered “a blow” here today. Nicola Sturgeon can hold her head high and be confident that she is on the right side of the argument. The Scottish Government after all had the BMA, doctors, the police, nurses, community groups and whole lot more on their side. Sadly Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories were not amongst that number. The Greens, to their little-heralded credit, looked at the SNP’s policies, largely agreed with them and have been onboard ever since.

So who loses here, aside from the many who will continue to drink themselves into an early grave?

Well, the Conservatives cannot really be blamed for having a firmly held belief and principle that is diametrically opposite to that proposed by the Scottish Government. Their typical supporters and more libertarian followers will not be moved by seeing minimum pricing voted down.

For the Lib Dems and Labour it is a different story. There should have been enough common ground with the SNP for a deal to have been reached and Gray and Scott should really have been persuaded by the views of the BMA, doctors and the police, not to mention their colleagues in London in some instances.

Focussing on caffeinated drinks may have some merit but it is inviting judgement over the motives of the decision to prioritise this particular angle. Was it because this is where Scotland’s greatest threat is regarding alcohol or was it just a convenient way to avoid facing up to the persuasive arguments for backing the radical option of minimum pricing?

On May 6th we will find out to what extent Scottish political parties get rewarded for saying a largely uninterrupted ‘No’ for four years and preventing much about anything getting done. Alcohol is holding Scotland back, so too are too many of our politicians.