Lorna Slater, the minister responsible for Scotland’s deposit return scheme, has again ruled out compensation for the Scots firms that invested more £380m in the delayed scheme.
In Holyrood, Jamie Halcro Johnston, Shadow Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, said money invested by companies had been “put at risk because ministers didn’t do the work necessary to prepare for the scheme, and then refused to listen to business when it was clear to everyone, everyone except apparently Lorna Slater, that the rollout was a shambles.”
In response, Slater said the Scottish government was left with “no other option than to reset the timescale of the deposit return scheme” and that it did “not consider that any action we have been required to take gives rise to any obligation to pay compensation”.
Slater was also asked about the economic impact on businesses across Scotland as a result of the decision not to pay compensation.
Labour’s Sarah Boyack said: “The cost-of-living crisis and ongoing corporate recovery means that businesses are taking a bigger hit than ever before. So how confident is the minister that the total amount of investment made by business is only that figure she’s mentioned so far? £380m?
“And in her discussions with businesses, have any of them raised concerns over their long term survival, and how they plan ahead, given the result of the upfront costs of implementing this chaotically handled scheme that they have already made in good faith?
In response, Slater told the MSP: “I absolutely appreciate the in good faith investment that Scottish businesses have made. And of course, we intend to deliver a deposit return scheme as soon as we may.
“This will depend currently on the UK government’s timeline, but they have said they’re aiming for October 2025 and so that is when we will aim to be able to go live as soon as we possibly can.
“In terms of discussion with business, immediately after we found out about the internal market act, partial temporary exemption, the First Minister and I met with businesses and overwhelmingly in that discussion businesses said their preference was to align with that October 2025.”
