The evidence that unfolded during the two weeks of the Biffa v Scottish Ministers case should be a source of shame for Nicola Sturgeon, Lorna Slater and their civil servants.
They misled the public and investors over their doomed Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and now huge amounts of money has been wasted because people took them at their word.
I’m a lawyer by trade and a politician by conviction. Despite all my years, including in cabinet, I was flabbergasted by what I heard during the Court of Session case.
Ms Sturgeon and Ms Slater gave ‘letters of comfort’ promising delivery of the scheme, and boasted they would be the first in the UK to do deliver the recycling initiative. It had their ‘unwavering support’.
But long before these unqualified commitments were made, they knew consent from the UK Government was needed under the Internal Markets Act (IMA).
They didn’t even apply for it before giving their assurances.
In a humiliating moment for anyone who believes in Scottish home rule, former Scottish Secretary Lord Alister Jack clearly explained the practical consequences of having two divergent schemes in the UK.
It was embarrassing. There would need to be different labelling systems, it could stop the French selling their wine in Scotland or prevent Tesco delivering drinks to elderly people in their online shopping order, cause prices to soar and many other problems.
Civil servants deliberately chose to conceal the IMA issue by excluding it from the project’s risk register. Ministers acted as if there was nothing to see. It was a deliberate cover up from the outset.
Ms Slater promotes the deposit return scheme in the period before its collapse
SNP MSP Fergus Ewing said the public and investors were ‘misled’ over the scheme
Ms Sturgeon gave her support to the scheme as her government boasted Scotland would be the first in the UK to do deliver such an initiative
As Cabinet Secretary for Rural Development before the 2021 election, when the principle of the scheme was being considered, I met Roseanna Cunningham who was responsible for the DRS.
I outlined the problems but was rewarded with a hairdryer-type response.
Despite my opposition the policy was waved through just before the election. Sturgeon wanted to curry favour with the Non-Governmental Organisations arguing for its inclusion in the manifesto. No detailed discussion of business’s concerns ever took place in cabinet. It was, as so often under Sturgeon’s regime, image and crowd pleasing ahead of the hard yards of competent government.
Is Lorna Slater alone to blame for this dud of a policy? I suggest not.
She was a new MSP, a minister after a few months and promptly put in charge of a £2.5 billion scheme – an absurd decision for which the First Minister and her deputy, John Swinney, must take responsibility.
When Slater’s failure became apparent Swinney should have intervened by either putting a Cabinet Secretary in charge or rolling up his sleeves.
That’s what happens in a good team. But not here, I suspect, because all of Sturgeon’s cabinet wanted to avoid being tarnished by a failing policy. I did reach out to John Swinney early in this parliament suggesting he meet grocers, breweries, waste companies and distillers. I never heard back. Whatever Lord Sandison decides in the Biffa case, this saga will have serious consequences.
A court defeat costing the taxpayer over £50million would be the most embarrassing ever suffered in the history of devolution.
This debacle is a lesson in how not to manage a project or govern a country. It’s also proof, if any more were needed, that no Green MSP must ever again be within 100 miles of ministerial responsibility.
But far worse, and I say this with no pleasure, is that I fear it will deter other major companies from putting their trust in this present government.
As businesses found to their enormous cost, you simply cannot rely on them to tell you the whole truth. Without that trust and confidence Government cannot govern and the people of Scotland are not served as they should be.
