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WSTA urges greater consultation on minimum pricing
The Wine and Spirits Trade Association has called on MPs for greater consultation on minimum pricing plans as European opposition grows.
The European Commission has joined Bulgaria, Spain, Italy and Portugal in lodging complaints about the Scottish government’s proposals to introduce minimum unit pricing.
The UK government will now have to justify the proposals made by the Scottish Parliament to the Commission.
A consultation for minimum unit pricing in England and Wales, which is due to begin soon, was meant to be finished by Christmas but the WSTA is calling for a full 12 week consultation period instead.
Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, reiterated the comments he made at the annual conference this week by saying: “It is now abundantly clear that plans for minimum unit pricing in Scotland have hit a wall of opposition in Europe. “While the legality of the Scottish Government’s proposals is in question any notion of a short consultation here is totally inappropriate.”