Chancellor denies whisky tax raid

Nov 25 2008

Chancellor Alistair Darling rejected claims of a "smash and grab" raid on Scotland's whisky industry.

Industry chiefs and an MP from a whisky-producing area have complained that his pre-Budget report put 29% on the cost of a bottle of whisky. But Mr Darling insisted that the tax of alcohol was "about the same".

"Looking overall, I have helped individuals, I have helped businesses, I have helped the economy as a whole," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland. "But of course at the end of the day you have got to pay for it - people understand that."