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Diageo Closures

A considerable number of Members wish to intervene, and I shall be happy to take those interventions, subject to leaving my right hon. Friend the Minister an opportunity to address the House at least for a few minutes, but I want first to make some progress. It cannot be the case that all those whom I have cited and who have fallen in behind the campaign are wrong about the argument, and that the only people who are right are Diageo executives and corporate whisky. It cannot be the case that the former are the only people in Scotland who cannot see the point. My research has revealed that an embarrassment of phrases from whisky's own promotional material could be deployed to show what we all know, which is that, when a glass of whisky is raised anywhere in the world, the whisky drinker is raising Scotland in a glass. Of all the competing brands of Scotland in a glass, Johnnie Walker is the most successful by a street because of its provenance—because of its roots stretching back to 1820. To paraphrase the words of another successful advertising campaign, it delivers what it says on the label.