LABOUR MPs have conducted secret talks with the Westminster government in an attempt to prevent whisky being targeted in the Budget, The Scotsman can reveal.
They decided to shun cross-party lobbying of the Treasury in the belief that the presence of opposition parties could "jaundice" delicate negotiations.
The revelation comes amid growing speculation that whisky drinkers will see the first increas
e in duty in a decade when Alistair Darling unveils his first Budget on Wednesday.
It is feared that health concerns about binge drinking will encourage the Chancellor to introduce an "across the board" increase in alcohol levies.
Normally the All-Party Scotch Whisky Group, involving representatives of all of Scotland's political parties, argues for the tax freeze to be maintained.
But this year Labour MPs Brian Donohoe and John McFall, both members of the group, decided without consulting the SNP, Conservatives or Liberal Democrats to have a private chat with junior Treasury minister Angela Eagle. This is understood to have taken place in a Commons tearoom.
Critics warn they will come down on the MPs "like a tonne of bricks" if the duty – currently about £5.50 a bottle or 27p for a pub measure – rises.
But Mr Donohoe, the group's secretary, told The Scotsman that they had had an "exceptional meeting" with Ms Eagle.
Defending the decision to meet her without non-Labour MPs, he said: "This was done quietly this year as a consequence of everything else that was going on. We believe there is still scope for the government to manage what they have had now for nearly 12 years, which is a freeze on spirits.
"We normally meet as a group with all the parties, but John and I felt in the circumstances that it would be best to keep the politics out of it," he said. "I think it has become absolutely essential that we maintained a low profile. She listened and took note that what we were saying was important."
But one critic said: "Who was at the meeting is not that important, provided we get the right result. But I don't regard it as a satisfactory way of doing business. The all-party group works very hard to try and make sure they don't run into party political issues, and this goes contrary to that."
Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said: "Cross-party working is easy when there is no pressure. But it's clear there is a lot of pressure on the Treasury this year to end the spirits freeze, and that is when it can be more challenging.
"Inevitably it can mean government backbenchers giving the government ministers a message they don't want to hear. I fear that is the territory we are in this year."
The UK Exchequer takes around £600 million a year from whisky duties – £800 million when VAT is included.
The SNP has recently been split over maintaining the freeze while urging higher alcohol taxes to tackle Scotland's booze culture.
But the SNP Treasury spokesman, Stewart Hosie, said: "After years of Labour's economic bungling, Alistair Darling is now hitting the bottle to prop up UK finances.
"Just as we need an end to the discriminatory tax on Scotland's vital whisky industry, Alistair Darling is treating the industry as a cash cow."
'GAS-GUZZLERS' AND AIRLINES SET TO FEEL PINCHA LEVY of £2,000 could be slapped on "gas-guzzling" new vehicles while airlines will be hit with duties to maximise the number of passengers as part of an expected "green" drive by the Chancellor.
The "showroom" levy on 4x4s and other vehicles in the highest tax category for emissions in Wednesday's Budget could also be accompanied by the issuing of colour-coded tax discs to make it easier for councils to levy higher residential parking permits.
Drivers already pay different rates for their vehicle tax discs, with those in the lowest emissions category being exempted and those in the highest of the seven bands paying £300.
Meanwhile, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said a future Tory government would declare "tough love" on welfare claimants: "We will be squeezing budgets like welfare, which are a drag on the British economy. The country has more children in workless households than any other in Europe. That is not acceptable. This is about tough love with welfare."
The full article contains 723 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
