THE Tories have accused Scottish Government ministers of putting pressure on Marks & Spencer bosses to keep Scotland’s whisky Scottish, according to documents released under Freedom of Information.
Last November, the retail giant backed down in a “Union Jackery” row that saw whisky labeled as British.
READ MORE: Victory for National reader as M&S back down over 'Great British' whisky
The store was initially taken to task by The National after reader Stewart Brown contacted us to point out a mistake on the firm’s website.
On the whisky and gin pages in the food section of the website, M&S had listed the countries of origin as US, Ireland, India, England and Great Britain.
Dr Brown complained: “If Scotland only merits a listing under ‘Great Britain’, why does England not similarly fall within this ‘Great Britain’ category? Who on earth refers to whisky from Great Britain, or to British whisky, when in fact the origin is Scotland and the spirit Scotch? Moreover, in terms of listing countries of origin, in any context England has exactly the same status as Scotland.”
Dr Brown was later told in an e-mail by a customer services operative: “At the moment, it looks like our customers are happy with how the Whisky is currently categorised.”
But now, documents released to the Tories under FOI show that after out story was published, sparking outrage, Rural Affairs Secretary Fergus Ewing went straight to the top of M&S.
He was told by civil servants: “Scottish Government officials spoke to M&S to seek clarity on the situation with regard to the status of these products on their website. M&S urgently investigated this and reverted back confirming that this was indeed an error which they immediately rectified and sent out a tweet apologising for their error.”
In an email, M&S told the government official: “After speaking to colleagues in our Food team I can confirm that the website listing issue regarding whisky and gin products from Scotland, as reported in the National newspaper, was an unfortunate mistake and has now been rectified online.
“I hope this note helpfully clarifies the situation and enables you to brief Ministers that M&S is fully committed to sourcing Scottish produce and labelling products as from Scotland both on pack and on our website wherever possible."
Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said Ewing’s concern over the branding was “petty and, frankly, a waste of public resources”.
“There’s not a person in the world who doesn’t know whisky is Scottish,” Fraser said.
He added: “It shows just how parochial the SNP government is, that it would sooner berate businesses for daring to refer to the UK, than actually help them create jobs and grow the economy.
“Instead of obsessing about Saltires and pandering to the extreme elements of the Yes movement, the SNP government should be getting on with representing the whole country.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel