The minister in charge of setting up the deposit return scheme (DRS) in Scotland has accused the UK Government of blocking Holyrood at every turn.
Lorna Slater, the Scottish Government’s circular economy minister, continued her attacks on the Westminster Government on Sunday after it said the DRS can only go ahead in Scotland if changes are made, due to concerns about trade barriers inside the UK.
The key change is the removal of glass bottles from the scheme, which now has a start date of March 2024 after being delayed from this August.
Ms Slater said the move has created “massive uncertainty” and is part of a “systematic undermining of devolution”.
The Scottish Green MSP told the BBC’s Sunday Show: “We should absolutely be using the powers of devolution to prevent waste and litter, to tackle environmental issues and social issues. That’s what it’s for.
“Westminster is starting to block us at every turn, on equalities issues, on environmental issues, this is a disastrous way forward and is disrespectful to Scotland.”
But Scottish Conservative Maurice Golden said Ms Slater has “tried to cover up her own inadequacies by pettily attempting to make the deposit return scheme a constitutional issue”.
He added: “The UK Government have listened to worried businesses who are calling for a UK-wide approach.
“The reality is the SNP-Greens have made such a mess of things that the current scheme is unrecognisable from the one envisaged four years ago.”
On Friday night, UK Government ministers wrote to First Minister Humza Yousaf and told him that in order for it to allow the scheme to proceed, it can only include PET plastic bottles, and aluminium and steel cans.
With similar schemes in the rest of the UK not due to come into effect until 2025, Scottish ministers had been forced to seek an exemption from the UK Internal Market Act, amid concerns trade between the four nations could be impacted.
My @ScotTories colleague Maurice Golden has put in some shift over the shambolic deposit return scheme. 👏
He listens to Scottish business – and is now calling out pathetic and predictable SNP-Green attempts to distract from their own mess by stoking anti-UK grievance. https://t.co/WcVbcyRjnf
— Russell Findlay (@RussellFindlay1) May 28, 2023
Glass bottles are not included in the DRS plans for England and Northern Ireland, and UK ministers argued having glass in the Scottish scheme could create a “permanent divergence” in the market.
The letter from UK Environment Secretary Therese Coffey, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack and minister for intergovernmental relations Michael Gove added that it would be “a very significant step for businesses and consumers, and there is insufficient justification for such an approach”.
Ms Slater said on Sunday it has created “massive uncertainty for the system”.
She told the BBC: “We now have to go back, talk to Scottish businesses, talk to our delivery partners for the scheme, and understand if we still have a viable scheme going forward, this is such a significant change.
“We’ll be doing that as quickly as possible but, of course, it will take a bit of time to evaluate a scheme without glass and understand how this will affect Scottish business.”
