Green bottles

It’s not so long ago that the SNP Government was talking

proudly about how wonderful the deposit scheme on returnable glass soft drinks bottles here in Scotland was.

They were remarkably quiet when, just over a year ago, AG Barr discontinued the scheme and started to use throwaway plastic bottles instead.

The UK government, on the other hand, has just announced that it is assessing a compulsory bottle deposit scheme to protect the environment by delivering much higher recycling rates, conserve resources, create green jobs and protect our coastlines from the growing plastic pollution crisis.

The SNP government at Holyrood needs to get a grip of what’s important to our economy, our NHS, our environment, our Scotland – and stop wasting yet more resources on endlessly trying to divorce us from our biggest trading partner.

ALASDAIR SEALE It is good to see Pete Irvine, the driving force behind many a Hogmanay celebration in Edinburgh, come out against the SNP’S proposed cut in air passenger duty, and equally in favour of a hotel tax on visitors in tourist hotspots.

He has said it’s already cheap to come to the capital and tourism doesn’t need further boosters of this sort. A cut in air passenger duty would have to be paid for by us, the Scottish taxpayers, and local budgets and local services would be hit again, seeing local councils take the flak for the SNP’S budget decisions.

Pete Irvine says a hotel tax would be far more beneficial, both culturally and economically. In Edinburgh, Labour, in the forthcoming Council elections, are proposing a hotel bed levy to provide skills training for local residents in the hospitality and tourist businesses, and help fund the Festivals, which generate £313 million for Scotland and £280m for Edinburgh. Hotels ratchet up their prices considerably during the Edinburgh Festival and at Hogmanay, so a hotel bed levy would be a good way of allowing councils to boost the revenue available to plough back into tourism and local communities.

ANNE WIMBERLEY

Belmont Road Juniper Green, Edinburgh