A LEADING alcohol campaigner from NHS Tayside has praised the tax increase on booze announced in yesterday’s budget.

Dr Peter Rice, psychiatric consultant with the Tayside Alcohol Problem Service, says the tough measure will help in the fight against excessive drinking and related health problems.

In his first budget Chancellor Alistair Darling put 4p on a pint of beer, 14p on a bottle of wine, 3p on a litre of cider and 55p on a bottle of spirits.

He also announced alcohol tax was to go up by 6% above inflation—and then by 2% above inflation for each of the next four years.

Dr Rice, who works at Sunnyside Royal Hospital in Angus, said, “This is a thing doctors locally, and in Scotland, have been calling for for some years because we know that the price of alcohol is one of the most powerful factors in reducing the damage done to health.

“Alcohol related deaths in Scotland have gone up three fold in the last 10 years. It is a really serious problem.

“I know a lot of individuals will think of this increase as negative thing but if you stop to consider the issues of community safety it is one of the most positive steps taken on the issue in recent years.

“But it needs to be a progressive process—which is why the commitment to raise duties for the next four years is particularly welcome.”

But Sheena Thomson, president of the Dundee Licensed Trade Association, said the move would be another hammer blow for an industry still struggling in the aftermath of the smoking ban.

“Nobody is arguing that there is a problem with binge drinking—but it is just not pubs were the problem lies.”

She added, “It is quite a large increase that traders will be forced to pass on to the customer.”