Scotland’s first minister has accused the UK government of undermining the devolution of power and disrespecting his country’s parliament after London demanded that Edinburgh exclude glass from its planned recycling scheme.
The dispute threatens to spark another constitutional battle between departments and threatens the viability of the scheme, which the Scottish government insists is necessary to achieve its goal of net zero emissions by 2045.
Hamza Yusuf, the Scottish First Minister, said the UK government spent most of Friday briefing the media on its decision to exclude Glass from the scheme before informing his management late on Friday evening.
“It’s their way or the highway, that doesn’t respect the devolution of power,” he said on Saturday.
One person familiar with the discussions in Westminster said it was “nonsense” to suggest that London had not respected the devolution and insisted the offer to the Scottish government was “reasonable and workable”. “Ultimately, we want a UK-wide solution that won’t place undue burdens on business and reduce consumer choice.”
The Glass row is the latest dispute between London and Edinburgh after Rishi Sunak’s government in January blocked a Scottish law to make it easier for trans people to get legal recognition of their gender, which the Scottish government is challenging in court.
Westminster has also consistently blocked an attempt by the pro-independence Scottish National Party to re-run the 2014 referendum in which Scots voted 55 percent to 45 percent to remain in the UK.
Scotland’s deposit return scheme, due to launch next March, seeks to improve recycling rates by charging consumers 20p for single-use drink containers. They can get the money back by returning empty containers through machines in supermarkets.
Edinburgh’s plan to roll out its scheme before other parts of the UK has raised fears in London that it will create trade barriers between England and Scotland because consumers will charge different prices for the same product on both sides of the border.
The drinks industry has warned that having different packaging rules in Scotland would increase prices at a time when consumers and businesses are suffering from a cost-of-living crisis. They added that the scheme is poorly designed and impractical as well.
For the scheme to work, London would have to exclude it from legislation that ensures businesses face the same post-Brexit rules across Britain. Without exception from the UK’s Internal Market Act, the scheme would be inapplicable as it would not apply to drinks packaged outside Scotland, which make up the majority of sales in the country.
On Saturday, the UK government said it would give approval for the Scottish scheme to launch before the rest of Britain, but sought changes to ensure it was “in line with schemes planned for the rest of the UK”.
Ministers want the Scottish scheme to exclude glass to bring it in line with the planned one for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, due to launch in 2025. Westminster fears including glass in Scotland could create a permanent trade barrier with the rest of the UK.
Lorna Slater, minister for a circular economy in Scotland in which the Scottish Greens are governed with the SNP chaired by Joseph at Holyrood, said on Saturday that London had shown “total disregard for devolution” and that Edinburgh should now “look very seriously” at the feasibility of the scheme.