A supermarket has come under fire for selling beer cheaper than water.  Morrisons says it is offering a "great value deal" for its customers. But alcohol campaigners in Scotland claim selling drink so cheaply will encourage people to buy and consume more than they normally would.

In the run up to Christmas, the big supermarkets are battling for our business and some of the keenest prices are in the drinks aisle.

Tesco is charging £2.79 for eight bottles of French lager, a price that works out at about 35p each. Sainsbury's is selling two  boxes of Stella for £14, a total of 36 bottles at a price that works out at around 39p. In Asda it is £7 for a Christmas box of Stella, a price that a again works out about 39p a bottle.

But at Morrisons there is a deal that has prompted the most criticism - four bottles of Carlsberg for a pound.

Jack Law from Alcohol Focus Scotland said: "We think alcohol products should be more expensive than fruit juice or water or soft drinks and this quite clearly is not.

"We think this will encourage people to perhaps buy more than they would choose to buy and probably therefore drink more than they would choose to drink.

"So we think these kinds of deals, these kinds of things actually add to the problem that we've got about alcohol in Scotland."

In a statement, Morrisons said: "As a responsible retailer, we enable our customers to make responsible choices when purchasing alcohol. This particular deal is great value for our customers and allows those on a budget an opportunity to purchase low strength beer at an affordable price. "

The Scottish Government has said the situation is "worrying and out of hand". It wants to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol, which would spell and end to deals like these, but there's not enough parliamentary support to make it law.