Mail Online

SNP grandee warns Yousaf of DRS ‘disaster’

By Georgia Edkins

FORMER SNP Minister Fergus Ewing has implored Humza Yousaf to accept the UK Government’s DRS proposals – in a move set to deepen the rift within the party’s ranks.

The Nationalist stalwart said the Scottish Government should act ‘rationally and not politically’ in the face of UK Ministers’ suggestion that Scotland could pilot a UK-wide recycling scheme that excludes glass.

Claiming that the current Scottish plans could be ‘catastrophic’ for businesses north of the Border, he said Mr Yousaf would be ‘irresponsible and reckless’ if he dismissed the UK Government’s offer out of hand.

Speaking to the Scottish Mail on Sunday, Mr Ewing said: ‘The Scottish Government should act rationally and not politically, and consider the offer on the table very carefully. If they refuse to do so, they will have no UK Internal Market consent and their scheme will fall apart, as the banks lending to the administrator Circularity Scotland will surely pull their funding.

‘The deposit return scheme is a disaster which if allowed to unfold will be a catastrophe. So if Humza refuses the UK Government offer, it will be irresponsible and reckless.’

He added that many of his SNP colleagues were also concerned about the Scottish Green-led scheme, but said they were too frightened to speak up about it in public.

It is the SNP grandee’s latest outspoken tirade against his own party, which he earlier this month claimed was being strong-armed into unworkable policy decisions by its Bute House partners, the Scottish Greens.

Mr Ewing’s outbursts have not gone unnoticed by SNP top brass, with former head of media Murray Foote writing that he should be disciplined for failing to toe the party line.

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2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

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