LABOUR must support Scotland's whisky industry by cutting duty after a major firm announced dozens of jobs are at risk.
Diageo, which owns 31 Scottish distilleries, announced this week that 172 distillery workers are at risk of redundancy – warning that 38 of those roles could potentially progress to job losses.
Union GMB Scotland says the spirits-maker intends to make cuts at distilleries across the Highlands and Islands, including Cardhu, Cragganmore, Port Ellen, Islay, and Dufftown.
The union said a four-week consultation ended last week, but claims an agreement on the number of potential job losses or the redundancy process has not been reached.
Despite pledging to back the industry "to the hilt" during the 2024 General Election campaign, Keir Starmer hiked whisky duty in his first Budget, driving down tax revenues by £1.1 billion due to the impact on sales, harming both the taxpayer and the industry.
The SNP are now calling on Andy Burnham to ensure he changes course and cuts whisky duty this autumn.
Laura Mitchell, SNP MSP for Moray which contains around half of all of Scotland's distilleries, said: “The tax hikes imposed on Scotland's greatest industry by Labour and Tory MPs at Westminster has driven down sales, brought down tax revenue, and placed enormous pressures on distilleries across Scotland.
"This policy is a total failure, and is harming both taxpayers, and the Scottish whisky industry and the announcement of this latest job cut makes that clear.
“We know the love for Scotland’s national drink across the world and it was only through the actions of John Swinney raising the issue with Trump directly that we managed to repeal the US' Scotch Whisky tariffs, which were harming both buyers and sellers.
“The new Prime Minister should follow in the footsteps of the SNP Scottish Government by championing the industry at home and abroad and scrap its tax hikes which have slowed the sector's success.
It comes after US president Donald Trump lifted a 10% tariff on Scotch whisky.
Trump announced the move following the state visit by the King, although John Swinney was later praised by Trump for his long-running negotiation on the issue.
However, a row was sparked after the Westminster Labour party attempted to both take credit and disparage Swinney's claim of victory.
Swinney had discussed the tariff situation with Trump in person last year, once during his visit to Scotland and again in the Oval Office in September.
At Diageo, around £631m ($850m) of savings is set to come from operations, with around £111m ($150m) to be saved from its supply chain.
The company has reported a 3% fall in annual net sales to £14.5bn ($19.6bn) for the year to June.
