Government 'reckless' over pursuit of deposit return scheme says Strathspey MSP Fergus Ewing
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After hitting out at his own party this past week over A9 dualling, Fergus Ewing has continued to attack from within.
He has claimed the Scottish Government would be "reckless" to continue pursuing the current timetable for a deposit return scheme in Scotland.
The initiative is designed to boost recycling by imposing a 20p deposit on single-use drinks bottles and cans, returnable to consumers when they take containers back.
It is currently planned to launch in August but businesses have to sign up to the scheme by the end of this month, with many saying they do not have enough information about how it will all work.
MSP Mr Ewing told the BBC's The Sunday Show that for the Scottish Government to continue to pursue the policy in its current form and in line with the current timetable would be "not just careless...it's reckless."
He said: "It's like the captain of the Titanic, when he left and sailed from Southampton, deliberately setting course to hit the iceberg".
He said a government review of the scheme carried out last summer and published in December itself said the scheme could not be ready for August.
And he said many business owners are "absolutely petrified" about the potential impact on them.
He also attacked the scheme in terms of the vaunted environmental benefits, saying that consumers having to travel back to purchase points to return used containers – and those containers then having to be transported on for recycling – would add "millions of car miles" to Scotland's journeys total.
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He said implementing a scheme that did not work would "inevitably" cost the SNP votes and called on the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to hold a summit bringing together experts included the business community to make their views known.
Referring to himself as "unleashed" from ministerial office since being returned to the backbenches, it is the second time in a matter of days in which Mr Ewing has attacked his own government.
Last week, following the announcement from transport minister Jenny Gilruth that the previously set 2025 deadline for dualling of the A9 between Inverness and Perth would not be met he called it a "betrayal" of the Highlands.
He later said: "Unless the party I have served for most of my life delivers a credible revised plan for the swift completion of the road – as swiftly as it can be done in practice – I fear that we will lose the trust and confidence of the public, whose patience in the Highlands has already been remarkable.
"Once trust goes – elections are lost. And deservedly so."
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."
