Alcohol minimum pricing.
Golden opportunity.
Gone.
Rejected by the Scottish Parliament.
Now we can look forward to more drink-related deaths, blighted streets, alcohol-fuelled crime and anti-social behaviour. We see the consequences of boozed-up Scotland every day.
The police made clear their support for alcohol minimum pricing. So did the medical profession and others. But the majority of MSPs chose to ignore calls for the move.
Arch-opponent Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour health spokesperson, claimed in parliament it was untried, possibly illegal and would put £140 million into the pockets of supermarkets.
She denied Labour opposed minimum pricing on political grounds. They opposed the move because they believed it wouldn't work.
Fair enough. But where's the evidence for such a belief? I've certainly not heard it uttered.
Little wonder the SNP government is accusing Labour of 'politicking'. What else are we to make of Labour's illogical stance?
The SNP government has vowed to continue the alcohol minimum pricing campaign.
Speaking in the parliamentary debate, SNP Health Secretary and Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon said, "When we have the opportunity to save not just money but lives, then we have a duty to listen and to act.
"That is exactly what people outside this parliament want us to do - people who know what they're talking about. Doctors, nurses, the police, public health experts, children's charities, churches, key players in the alcohol industry, and growing numbers in the population all believe that this is a policy whose time has come.
"And yet inside this parliament we have an obstinate refusal to listen - a mentality that says 'we are right and everyone else is wrong'.
"The truth is that, for Labour, this policy really only has one fatal flaw - and that is that it is proposed by the SNP. It is pathetic, and Labour - a party with such a proud record on public health - should be deeply ashamed of itself today."
I couldn't agree more.
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