SCOTTISH Government plans for minimum pricing of alcohol have been dealt a blow as senior European Union legal official has said it risks flouting EU law.

Yves Bot, European Court of Justice Advocate General, gave his opinion today in the case brought by the Scotch Whisky Association arguing the plans for a 50p per unit price are illegal under EU law.

Mr Bot said the policy system risks infringing the principle of the free movement of goods and would only be legal if it could be shown that no other mechanism was capable of achieving the desired result of protecting public health.

The Advocate General suggests that increasing taxation of alcohol could be an alternative and it would be for the Scottish government to prove that this was not a suitable means of curbing excessive consumption of alcohol.

He said: “A Member State can choose rules imposing a minimum retail price of alcoholic beverages, which restricts trade within the European Union and distorts competition, rather than increased taxation of those products, only on condition that it shows that the measure chosen presents additional advantages or fewer disadvantages by comparison with the alternative measure.”

The court’s judges will now consider the advocate general's opinion and give their ruling later this year or early next year.

It will then return to the Court of Session for a final decision.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “We welcome this opinion, in which the Advocate General confirms that minimum unit pricing is not precluded by EU law, but sets out tests that the national court has to apply.”