THE Scotch Whisky Association said it is “disappointed” the judicial review of Scotland’s minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol legislation has been adjourned until January.
The Scottish Government requested that the Court of Session hearing into the legality of its plans to implement a 50p a unit minimum price for alcohol, which was due to get underway last Tuesday (October 23), be postponed to allow it to respond to “detailed technical reports” it said the SWA provided a week before the hearing.
But the SWA said it provided its evidence opposing minimum pricing in time.
“We submitted all our evidence opposing MUP for the judicial review in the timetable agreed with the Scottish and UK governments,” said chief executive Gavin Hewitt.
“We are disappointed the Scottish Government was not ready to argue its case.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Scottish ministers have requested an adjournment as detailed technical reports running to over 200 pages have been provided by the petitioners just one week before the hearing date, giving ministers insufficient notice to respond.
“We regret that the SWA did not advise us that these reports were being commissioned.”
