Crunch time over deposit return scheme as asked First Minister to 'get in aboot this'
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After hitting out at his own party over A9 dualling, SNP MSP Fergus Ewing continued to attack from within this week.
Scottish Government would be “reckless” to continue pursuing the current timetable for a deposit return scheme aimed at boosting recycling in Scotland, he said.
The scheme – due to come into force from August, but which businesses are currently required to sign up to by the end of this month – would impose a 20p additional charge in the form of a deposit on single-use drinks bottles and cans.
This money would be returned to consumers when they take containers back, however many businesses say they still don’t have enough information about how it will all work and now Inverness and Nairn MSP Mr Ewing has stepped into the row.
- WATCH: Fergus Ewing brands deposit return scheme 'defective'
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Hot on the heels of calling last week’s announcement that A9 dualling between Inverness and Perth will not be completed by 2025 – as previously promised by the Scottish Government – a “betrayal” of the Highlands, he has now attacked the government for continuing to pursue the recycling scheme even against its own advice.
Speaking to the Courier, he said: “Small convenience stores tell me that that deposit of 20p for every bottle of soft drink or beer does not cover their costs or their handling fee and that price inflation will mean another 20p or 30p on top of that.
“I am not particularly a shrinking violet, I have made my views known, they have paid no heed to them whatsoever and now it is crunch time, and that is why I am speaking out.
“I have been a loyal party member for nearly half-a-century but I cannot stand by and see business go to the wall because of defective legislation and regulation.
“Governments can make mistakes, all of us can get something wrong as an error of judgement and that is carelessness, perhaps.
“But this goes way beyond carelessness, this is recklessness.”
Citing a government review of the scheme that took place last summer and was published in December, which said the scheme could not be ready for August, he added: “To go ahead with a scheme which your own advice says cannot be made to work and should be substantially reviewed and amended, it’s not careless, it is reckless and governments shouldn’t do things that are reckless, to state the obvious.”
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He advised the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and the permamnet secrteray, the top civil servant in the Scottish Government, to “get in aboot this”.
“Get out and about and speak to industry and sort these problems, but immediately halt, postpone, or pause the scheme for 18 months,” he said. “Carry out an independent review.”
His remarks to the Courier yesterday echoed those of Sunday when he also attacked the scheme during interviews with the BBC.
Then he declared himself “unleashed” from ministerial office and spoke in equally colourful terms about the government’s dogged pursuit of the recycling scheme’s implementation.
“It’s like the captain of the Titanic, when he left and sailed from Southampton, deliberately setting course to hit the iceberg,” he said.
And he warned it would “inevitably” cost the the SNP votes if the scheme was implemented and did not work.
Speaking separately to BBC Scotland, circular economy minister Lorna Slater insisted the timetable for the deposit return scheme remained on track.
“I know there are still some outstanding concerns, particularly from small producers,” she said.
“I met with them urgently on Friday to go through those concerns, and start working on practical solutions so that all businesses in Scotland can fully participate in the scheme this August.
“We have already given industry one additional year to help them recover from Covid and get ready for the scheme and we have been working very closely with them to reduce costs and make it simpler to participate.”
