PLANS to use minimum pricing for alcohol to improve public health in Scotland are under attack at the UK’s highest court.

A QC for the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has told the Supreme Court  in London there are a variety of better  ways to achieve the Scottish Government’s aim.

The SWA is arguing in a two-day hearing in London that minimum unit pricing (MUP) is “disproportionate” and illegal under European law.

Aidan O’Neill QC told seven justices: “It is a political decision that pricing should be used to decrease alcohol consumption and improve public health.”

Mr O’Neill said that, in principle, raising excise duty might be one way of increasing the price and achieving the same health benefits.

The fresh challenge comes after the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland’s top civil court, rejected the SWA’s appeal against the measure in October.

But judges at the same court later gave the whisky body permission to take its fight all the way to the UK’s top court.

The move is the latest step in an extended legal wrangle that began in 2012 over the proposals, which has delayed implementation of a policy aimed at tackling Scotland’s drink problem.

The SWA says alternative pricing measures would be less disruptive of free trade and less distortive of competition across the EU single market, and would have at least an equivalent level of effectiveness in improving public health.

SWA chief executive Karen Betts said: “The Scotch whisky industry is an export- focused industry – 90 per cent of Scotch is exported to 182 markets overseas – and we rely on open markets and free trade to sell successfully around the world.

“Were other governments to follow the Scottish Government’s lead, the  whisky industry – which is an important part of the Scottish economy – would be damaged  and with it the jobs and communities  which rely on the industry’s continued success.”

Writing in The Herald today, former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill described the SWA’s opposition to minimum pricing as “shameful”.

He said: “The SWA asks for and receives almost unquestioning support from the Scottish Government and MPs. That’s what makes their opposition to minimum pricing so shameful.   “When they ask for support they invariably receive it, but when the nation asks for a measure for the common good, they oppose it tooth and nail.  “When justice secretary I can’t recall any other trade, organisation being as rude or confrontational.  “Having failed to bully me they sought to undermine me, criticising my actions to the First Minister (Alex Salmond). I was rebuked  when they complained.

“The First Minister then sought to intercede himself. However, flying to Europe to lobby one of the major multinationals, that are pivotal players in the SWA, he found his apparent greater diplomacy skills equally rebuffed.”  Mr MacAskill added: “Profit not public welfare predominated.”