Thatcher ‘to blame for Scottish drink problem’

Health Secretary infuriates Tories with controversial claim.

Health Secretary Alex Neil has claimed Margaret Thatcher is to blame for Scotland’s destructive relationship with alcohol.

The SNP minister has sparked controversy by pointing the finger at the late Tory Prime Minister for a huge surge in drink deaths among working age men over the last three decades. He also holds her accountable for the country’s reputation as one of the drug capitals of the world.

Neil said a 60% hike in death rates since 1980 was down to the Thatcher Government’s failure to replace the jobs axed with the closure of heavy industries.

The Health Secretary pointed to research by Scotland’s top doctor, Sir Harry Burns, which shows the country has gone from having the world’s lowest liver disease rates to one of the highest over the last 30 years.

The Tories last night described the intervention as “preposterous” and said Neil was “parroting myths about Mrs Thatcher nearly 25 years after she left office”.

Neil made his remarks addressing a pro-independence rally in Airdrie last week. He said: “Since 1980 there has, among working age men primarily in the west of Scotland, been an increase in the mortality rate during their working years of 60%.

“Sixty per cent of that increase is mortality arising from four conditions drug abuse, alcohol abuse, violence and suicide. Those four conditions are responsible between them for 60% of the 60% increase in mortality among working men since Thatcher took power in 1979.

“According to Sir Harry’s analysis it is down to one factor and that is the total lack of work and the failure to replace jobs in the traditional industries, like steel and like coal mining, with other well-paid jobs. What has happened is that the men have lost their dignity, their pride and their respect and have turned to drugs, they have turned to violence and they have turned to alcohol abuse because they have lost that respect and that dignity. That is at the core of the social problems we have in Scotland today.”

A report published in 2012 by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health showed Scotland now has the highest mortality among the young to middle-aged age group in Western Europe. Mortality in the 15-44 age group among women in 2009 was 46% higher in Scotland than in England and Wales, while for men in that group it was 54% higher. This is despite medical advances in recent decades increasing survival rates for heart disease and cancer.

Scotland also has one of the highest death rates from chronic liver disease in Europe, only beaten by Hungary.

Data from the Scottish Public Health Observatory published last year showed deaths are almost 60% higher than they were 30 years ago and almost 70% higher than the average across the UK. The figures quoted by the Health Secretary came from a speech Sir Harry, Scotland’s chief medical officer, gave last year on the country’s glaring health inequalities.

He said: “If we look back at what happened in the 1980s, the only thing we can think of is the collapse of traditional industry, the collapse of a traditional way of living. It was not just the collapse of male employment, but the loss of jobs with meaning. If you worked in a shipyard in the 1950s or 1960s you had huge pride in what you did, it meant something.

“The decline of these industries meant if you had skills you moved elsewhere and if you didn’t you stayed behind in places like Easterhouse and Drumchapel with no job and no hope. A gap appeared in your life and that gap was filled by drugs, alcohol and violence. “

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “This is one of the most preposterous interventions in the referendum debate to date, even by Alex Neil’s standards.

“In any event, figures demonstrate that the deterioration in Scotland’s record with alcohol began almost to the day Margaret Thatcher left office make of that what you will. But what you can’t do is relate it to Mrs Thatcher herself.

“Subsequent governments allowed alcohol to become more affordable and it remains a critical problem in Scotland today.

“Alex Neil should really get a grip of the day job and get on with introducing minimum unit pricing or at the very least working with others to make genuine progress in the battle to change our country’s relationship with booze.

“Parroting myths about Mrs Thatcher nearly 25 years after she left office is a sign of desperation from the Yes Scotland campaign and the SNP.”

In a second astonishing outburst at the same pro-independence meeting, Mr Neil claimed Scots who work in shops or the fast food chain McDonald’s do not have “good jobs”.

The Health Secretary was accused of insulting hundreds of thousands of people across the country who are employed in the retail sector with his comments.

Asked about youth unemployment, Mr Neil said training and education was essential to have “any prospect of having a good job, and I am not talking about jobs in McDonald’s or at a check-out counter.”

Scottish Labour MSP James Kelly accused the Health Secretary of showing “contempt for working class people”.

He added: “Alex Neil has insulted thousands of hardworking Scots. Perhaps he should tear his backside off the back seat of his chauffeur-driven ministerial limousine once in a while and find out about the lives of real Scots.

“Scots respect the dignity of labour and people trying to earn an honest living. I challenge Alex Neil to take a job in a supermarket to see if he could last a week.”

Around 240,000 Scots work in the retail sector, while McDonald’s employs around 7,000 in Scotland.

A spokesman for shopworkers union Usdaw said: “These remarks could be considered as insulting by many people who work in retail and are ill-advised.

“The evidence out there supports the fact that a career in retail can be fulfilling. There are plenty of ‘good jobs’ and these comments are not helpful.”

Mr Neil was speaking at a pro-independence meeting in Airdrie last Thursday when he was asked about youth unemployment.

He said: “In today’s world to have any prospect of having a good job, and I am not talking about jobs in McDonald’s or at a check-out counter . . . a prerequisite is training, education, qualification and that is where we have put the priority.”

A spokesman for Alex Neil said: “Labour must be really in a desperate situation if they are reduced to distorting what was a very serious point about tackling youth unemployment.

“Mr Neil was of course referring to how we can use the powers offered by independence to transform our economy and help improve opportunities for all.”

Additional reporting by Graham McKendry