Humza Yousaf is to tell Rishi Sunak that he must “bring fairness back to the way whisky is treated”, ahead of a tax hike later this year.
An alcohol duty freeze is set to end on 1 August, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed earlier this year, when the amount scotch buyers will have to pay the Treasury will go up by 10.1% in line with inflation.
Ahead of the First Minister’s meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday, the first in-person meeting since he won the top job, Yousaf said the duty hike and the UK Government “refusing to provide the energy-bill support the rest of the drinks industry receives” put the industry, and Scotland, at a “competitive disadvantage”.
