Column: Douglas Ross calls for pause to Deposit Return Scheme
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
An issue that has dominated much of our politics at Westminster and Holyrood this week has been the Deposit Return Scheme. This is being introduced to reduce littering and improve re-cycling.
These are aims we all agree on and want to see delivered, but the system put in place by the SNP/Green government has faced huge criticism from industry and of course this issue was front page news of last week’s Northern Scot (report by Ewan Malcolm).
Nigel Tiddy of Windswept Brewing said the price of the scheme as it is now, could be the closure of small businesses across Moray.
Nigel spoke of the concerns many have here locally and across Scotland and the passion he and his team have put into Windswept is clear for all to see but they are worried this could all be lost with a scheme that has lurched from one crisis to another.
On Tuesday producers large and small had to sign-up to the scheme which still had so many questions hanging over it.
We know that many whisky distilleries in Moray didn’t sign up and only 664 producers had completed the registration out of thousands who were expected to.
This has been so badly handled and there has been a complete lack of understanding from those at the top of the SNP/Green government that it must be paused. I made a final plea to the government to listen when I raised this in the Scottish Parliament this week.
As Nigel had put the case across so well in The Northern Scot I took a copy of the front page into the chamber with me to reinforce the point. If the Scottish Government won’t listen to opposition politicians, I really hope they will listen to business owners like Nigel.
It was a sad start to the week in Westminster as I arrived to flags flying at half-mast. This was in tribute to Betty Boothroyd who had sadly passed away.
Betty was the first, and so far only woman, to hold the position of Speaker of the House of Commons. It was a role she excelled in.
I used to watch her on TV when I was younger and she was tough on MPs who were out of order, but also had a kind and humorous side that often broke through the adversarial nature of the Commons chamber,
When I was a pupil at Forres Academy I wrote to Betty Boothroyd for a modern studies project and got a wonderful reply with lots of information about the role of Speaker and how she controlled MPs in the Chamber.
In later years she became a member of the House of Lords and I have seen her at times in the tearoom that MPs and members of the Lords who were MPs have access to.
I have to say I was a little starstruck when I saw her there reading the paper having a cup of tea.
Decades earlier she had helped further my interest in politics and now we were in the same tea room in the Palace of Westminster.
Betty Boothroyd was a trailblazer and role model and will be sorely missed by everyone who knew her.
