Alcohol industry’s tactics over MUP were similar to tobacco giants – Matheson

The alcohol industry used similar tactics to tobacco giants during the debate around minimum unit pricing (MUP), former minister Michael Matheson has said.

The ex-health secretary, who resigned last February following a row over a bill on his parliamentary iPad, also spoke of the pressures the scrutiny put on his family.

First elected as an MSP in 1999, the SNP politician held a number of ministerial roles under successive first ministers.

He spoke to the Institute for Government think tank as part of its devolved “ministers reflect” series.

The Falkirk West MSP said the debate around MUP had been particularly “divisive”, mentioning the Scotch Whisky Association’s legal challenge to the policy, which held up the implementation of the legislation for years.

He also said the law, first passed at Holyrood in 2012, would likely run afoul of the Internal Market Act if it was introduced today.

Mr Matheson said: “I would say – and I was challenged by the alcohol industry at the time – that the tactics they used were reminiscent of the type of tactics that were used by the tobacco industry: draw it out, try to discredit those who are presenting the evidence base to you, and then try and delay things for as long as you could.

“I’m not comparing the two of them directly, but the tactics were not dissimilar to the behaviour that we saw from the tobacco industry historically.

The former minister also spoke of working in government with the Scottish Greens under the Bute House Agreement, which saw the smaller party appoint two ministers for the first time.

The two parties had disagreed over policies such as dualling the A9, he said, something the SNP had pledged to do but the Greens were sceptical of.

Mr Matheson said of Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater: “I got on well with both of them but they would potentially push things all the way out to their limit very quickly.

“Whereas I instinctively do things much more incrementally.”

The Falkirk West MSP resigned as health secretary after questions were raised about an £11,000 data roaming bill on his parliamentary iPad.

Discussing this, he said: “In the end, it was my desire to try and avoid the press knowing about what my son had done.

“It was completely unforgiving, despite the fact that when you offer it up, then they say you’re using it as a cover. Actually, no, I’m not, but I’m telling you that’s what’s happened.”

Offering advice to other ministers, he said: “When you’re a minister and you’re a senior minister, you’re going to get chased down and you quite literally get chased down.

“What you shouldn’t underestimate is the impact that these things can have on your family as well.”

He said the scrutiny had a “significant impact” on his family, including his teenage sons, adding: “It’s in the public record that our house got broken into.”

However the Scottish Conservatives took issue with another of his remarks, that the matter had been “blown out of proportion”.

Deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: “Taxpayers will be outraged that Michael Matheson is trying to downplay the scandal that ultimately forced him to resign in disgrace.

“The public were rightly furious that the then SNP health secretary thought it acceptable to ask them to foot the bill for his mobile phone expenses.

“He then repeatedly lied to them and Parliament and refused to say sorry for what he had done.”

The Scotch Whisky Association declined to comment on Mr Matheson’s comments on MUP.