‘Inevitable’ that bottle scheme will be delayed, warns Sir Tom
Not properly thought through’
BILLIONAIRE businessman Sir Tom Hunter has warned a delay to the SNP’s chaotic Deposit Return Scheme is ‘inevitable’.
Sir Tom joined hundreds of Scottish firms in calling for the planned rollout to be paused over fears of the disastrous impact it will have.
Scottish shoppers will be hit with a 20p charge for every bottle and can they buy, which will only be refunded if the container is returned in good condition.
However, drinks producers, retailers and politicians have warned the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will wreak havoc on small businesses.
Sir Tom said it seems certain that whoever replaces Nicola Sturgeon as First
Minister will have to delay it. The businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist added that a key reason the development of DRS is being so badly handled is that the Scottish Greens ‘don’t believe in economic growth’.
Speaking on the Business Show on Go Radio, Sir Tom said: ‘The Scottish Chambers of Commerce, the Scottish Council for Development, the Federation for Small Business, Scottish Wholesale Association and CBI Scotland came together to write a letter to the First Minister saying, “Please delay this until you listen to businesses, our questions and our ideas”.’
Criticising the Greens’ involvement, he continued: ‘I’m not sure what they believe in order to pay for social services in Scotland, but they don’t believe in economic growth. Every one of the candidates to be First Minister is going to pause the scheme. So why don’t the Greens admit this is inevitable? Press pause and don’t cause businesses any more worry or money. We should be saying, “Wait until we have a new First Minister”. He or she can then take a view on this.’
Fellow radio show presenter, businessman Lord Haughey, said: ‘This is just another policy where things have not been properly thought through.
‘The best thing to do is to take that advice from all those bodies mentioned and just pause it until you know it’s workable.
‘At the moment, it looks just like [the] last three or four Bills have... all been rushed.’
Sir Tom was aghast that the Government appears to have only made a formal request for exemption under the UK’s Internal Market Act in the past fortnight, despite the scheme supposedly launching in August.
A Government spokesman said: ‘We understand that implementing deposit return is a big change for businesses. That’s why we’ve always said we’ll take a pragmatic approach to implementation.’