Rishi Sunak has said that he will not budge on a big increase in tax on Scottish whisky in a blow for the industry.
Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the Budget that the industry would face a 10.1 per cent rise from August.
The Prime Minister said that "the chancellor makes all tax decisions and that decision has been made".
First Minister Humza Yousaf had raised the issue with Sunak in a meeting in Westminster on Monday, but said that the PM "didn't give an indication" he would budge.
Yousaf had said that the tax rise would put producers "at a competitive disadvantage".
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack also lobbied against the tax increase.
Sunak told the BBC that the UK Government was a "big supporter" of the whisky industry.
He also said he was "glad" that the Scottish Government's deposit return scheme was paused. He added that the Scottish Whisky industry had been concerned about the "damaging impact" of the scheme.
He said that the request for an exemption to the UK Internal Market Act for the scheme would be considered in a "rigorous and objective way".
Yousaf had announced earlier this month that the scheme would be delayed for another 10 months. It had initially been due to start in August but has been pushed back to March.
Sunak also rejected the calls of former Tory Brexit Secretary David Frost for devolved powers to be rolled back.
The Prime Minister said "In general, I don't think we should be rolling back devolution".
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