Minister defends alcohol age limit

Oct 2 2008

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has defended controversial plans to ban under-21s from buying drink in off-licences.

Mr MacAskill insisted Scotland's drink problem - which is estimated to cost the country £2.25 billion a year - was so great that action was needed.

He said that 40,000 people a year had to be treated in hospital for an alcohol-related illness, adding that Scotland had one of the fastest growing rates of drink-related liver disease and cirrhosis in the world. He told MSPs: "We can not go on as we are."