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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

I agree entirely. Much of this involves cultural and educational issues. However, the evidence that I have seen from the UK Government and the Scottish Government suggests that price sensitivity is important in encouraging young people not to drink. Young people might have less money than grown-ups who like to have a glass of whisky. Pricing and price sensitivity are important for tackling these issues, but I believe that the Budget has tackled them in the wrong way. The Government have got it back to front by putting up the duty on a litre of cider by 3p and putting 55p on a bottle of whisky. The Government’s inability to invest and to ensure competitiveness is not the only problem. The double whammy of Government policy and the upward pressure on inflation driven by the rise in energy and road fuel costs—another matter that the Government have ignored over many years—will have a detrimental effect on consumers, who are paying higher prices for domestic energy, and for the distribution cost of all types of goods, which is passed on to them. Fuel costs are now so high that—for contractual reasons in some cases—they cannot all be passed on from the hauliers to those purchasing the goods. The increases—and the spiking, in particular—cannot all be passed on, and this is causing huge difficulties in the haulage industry. I speak to many hauliers in my constituency and elsewhere, and they tell me that they are struggling to make ends meet.