‘Sabotage’ claims on deposit return

Lorna Slater has called on the 8K Government to change course on the deposit return scheme DRS , as she said Scottish ministers will have to assess whether they can make it work.

Scottish Secretary $lister -ack wrote to the Scottish Government on Friday, granting the e[emption to the Internal Market $ct needed for the scheme to operate, but said the inclusion of glass could risk a “permanent divergence” between the 8K and Scotland.

In a statement where she repeatedly attacked the 8K Government’s approach to devolution, Ms Slater said: “If the 8K Government had given us the full e[clusion that we had sought, then I would be here today setting out all the detailed steps that we are taking ahead of go-live date ne[t March.”

“%ut instead, we are now being forced to e[amine whether the deliberate sabotage by the 8K Government leaves us something we can make work.”

The scheme was originally due to go live in $ugust, but was delayed last month, with First Minister Hum]a

Scottish Green Party coleader Ms Slater said: “:e will need some time to go through the detail of the 8K Government decision and conditions and I will update Parliament on ne[t steps.

“There is still a win-win opportunity for the 8K Government if it immediately reverses its 11th hour decision and enables Scotland to pave the way for the all-in DRS scheme, including glass, that its own analysis concluded was the best option. That is what it should do.”

Ms Slater challenged :estminster to show how a similar (nglish scheme would operate, before describing the union as “broken, a union of supposed eTuals e[posed as anything but by a Tory government pursuing a scorched earth approach to devolution,” she added.

“Scotland deserves so much more than the broken pieces of devolution. :e deserve always to get the governments we vote for and the policies we need.

“:e should not have to put up with :estminster interfering with our Parliament and sabotaging important policies to suit their own agenda.

“I look forward to a different future where we can have all the powers we need, right here in this Parliament, to deliver for the people of Scotland, to protect the environment and build a stronger, fairer economy.”

Tory MSP Maurice Golden, who has led on the scheme for his party, said the statement should have been delivered by independence minister -amie Hepburn “because it was solely designed to pick a fight with the 8K Government”.

He added: “The minister has come to Parliament today not to update us on deposit return but to indulge in an anti-8K rant.

“She would rather pick a fight with the 8K Government than support a scheme that works for everyone. She has traded her environmentalism for nationalism.”

Ms Slater described Mr Golden’s comments as “disingenuous”, adding that the decision of the 8K Government was “out of my hands” and “we have done everything we can possibly do”.

Sarah %oyack, Scottish /abour’s net-]ero spokeswoman, said Ms Slater was making the statement about devolution to “divert attention from the utter mismanagement and the uncertainty her scheme has caused”.

Former minister turned Scottish Government critic Fergus (wing urged the minister to withdraw her “false and disingenuous claim” that million glass bottles would be littered if the scheme does not go ahead.

Ms Slater said: “The numbers that the member Tuotes, the million glass bottles, is the estimated number of glass bottles in use in Scotland and are therefore included in the DRS.

“They would be in scope with the DRS and therefore would be prevented from being littered by being included in that scheme.”

$ spokesman for the 8K Government said: “The government remains unwavering in its commitment to improving the environment, while also upholding the 8K’s internal market.

“$ system with the same rules for the whole 8K will increase recycling collection rates and reduce litter.”

From a personal point of view, the only upside to the latest row about Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) is that it put me in mind of Hazel O’Connor’s 1980 debut album: Breaking Glass.

Whether the deposit return system the Scottish Government wants to introduce has been broken, as a result of a lastminute pot shot thrown from Westminster, remains to be seen.

The recycling initiative – voted for by the Scottish Parliament three years ago – would mean customers pay 20p extra when buying a drink in a single-use container.

This deposit would be returned upon taking the empty can or bottle back to a shop, supermarket or takeaway.

So far, so simple – although the process has been tortuous. And implementation has already been delayed until March.

The latest crack came when no fewer than three UK secretaries of state wrote to First Minister Humza Yousaf last Friday night.

They informed him that the British Government is only prepared to approve Scotland piloting the kind of deposit return scheme they want to introduce south of the border.

The main difference is that glass, integral to the Scottish scheme from its conception, would have to be removed from it.

Putting the detailed arguments to one side, such conduct is reminiscent of Henry Ford’s quote about his Model T car: customers could have it in any colour they wanted “so long as it’s black”.

When it comes to the Scottish Parliament exercising its devolved powers in this and perhaps other areas, it’s beginning to look like its ability to choose is more apparent than real.

There will be a range of opinions on the policy, but it’s certainly bad politics from a pro-union perspective.

If people think the post-Brexit version of devolution is being weakened, my hunch is that support for independence will stay strong and could rise further.

It’s scarcely credible for Conservatives to claim that Holyrood is “one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world” – a mantra of theirs for several years – when it may be denied the ability to include glass bottles in a recycling scheme.

It’s important, but hardly a high matter of state.

The new factor is the Internal Market Act of 2020, a post-Brexit instrument designed to prevent barriers to trade across the UK, now that we are no longer members of the European single market.

The irony is that the rules of the British single market appear to be imposing far greater uniformity and integration than the arrangements governing membership of the EU ever required of the UK or its constituent parts.

There is an obvious case for systems in our different nations to work in harmony, but no reason why that should be done on terms unilaterally imposed from Westminster.

The Welsh Government also intends to have glass in its deposit return scheme.

Why don’t UK ministers “level up” their plans for England in line with democratic decisions taken in Edinburgh and Cardiff ?

Such an inclusive approach is strengthened by the fact that Tory MPs stood on a manifesto at the last general election which pledged them to “introduce a deposit return scheme to incentivise people to recycle plastic and glass”.

According to Scottish ministers, all bar six of the 51 deposit return schemes worldwide include glass.

Given he may be prime minister next year, there is an opportunity for Labour leader Keir Starmer to sound a more reasonable note, both on this issue and relations with the devolved administrations more generally.

Otherwise, instead of 10 green bottles, it could be case for the union that accidentally falls.

How do we view our neighbours in the rest of the UK?

Gordon Brown sought to answer that question in a poll commissioned by his thinktank, Our Scottish Future.

Rather than break new ground, the survey tends to reinforce old stereotypes. Only 17% of people in Scotland said they felt “common bonds” with Londoners, while 65% responded that they didn’t. For English people in general, only a third of Scots feel we share a bond. More than half take the opposite view.

The good news is that we have an affinity with Geordies, Liverpudlians and the Welsh.

Mr Brown is right to conclude that “Scotland’s problem is with Whitehall, Westminster and a London-centric system”. We have no gripe with the people of London, or of England.

The reality of our world is that all human beings are interconnected and interdependent. But that’s a different matter from how we choose to be governed.

As President John Kennedy said in a speech 60 years ago next month: “Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

Ain’t that the truth.

My hunch is support for independence will stay strong

CRITICISMS: Lorna Slater, who is in charge of setting up the deposit return scheme.

LEVEL UP: According to Scottish ministers, all bar six of the 51 deposit return schemes worldwide include glass.