Alister Jack should resign or be sacked for “misleading” MPs over aspects of Scotland’s controversial Deposit Return Scheme, the SNP and Greens have claimed.
The Scottish Secretary has repeatedly said the Holyrood government has failed to request an exemption from UK internal market rules for the flagship recycling initiative.
But addressing MSPs yesterday, Green minister Lorna Slater - in charge of the scheme - said Jack’s statements were “not true” and suggested he was peddling "misinformation".
Newly-published files show Scottish ministers have been seeking legal clarity from Westminster on the plan for nearly two years.
Letters and minutes reveal a first bid for an exemption was made nearly two years ago, and kickstarted again last October.
On February 22, Jack told the House of Commons: “We have not been asked for an exemption for this under the rules of the UK Internal Market Act 2020 by the Scottish Government. No request for an exemption has come.”
In a statement on Tuesday night, the Tory chief reiterated that “no formal request” had been made.
But a letter from Deputy First Minister John Swinney to the UK Government on January 31 shows the SNP bigwig raising alarm over a lack of progress on green-lighting a proposed exemption.
Nats MSP Fiona Hyslop claimed Jack had “deliberately misled the Westminster parliament” - which is a resigning or sacking offence under the ministerial code of conduct.
She added: “As the supposed representative of Scotland in the UK Government, Alister Jack should be going out of his way to enable the smooth running of devolution.
“But instead he seems to be doing everything he can to sabotage it – and is now telling blatant untruths to cover his lack of action."
Green MSP Mark Ruskell added: “This is just the tip of what has been a dangerously cynical campaign to undermine Scottish Greens minister Lorna Slater, the Scottish Parliament and the scheme itself regardless of the impact it would have on people and on the planet.
“Rishi Sunak claims to be all about integrity - well, here is his chance to prove it. Alister Jack must be told to resign or be sacked.”
But a UK Government source said the attacks were “nonsense” and accused the Holyrood administration of a “desperate attempt to shift blame from a fiasco of their own making”.
They added: “People can judge for themselves who is responsible for making a mess of the DRS. The Scottish Government’s own correspondence shows no formal ministerial request has been made.”
Documents show SNP-Green ministers sought an exemption in July 2021 as part of a bid for a wider opt-out which also included Holyrood’s single-use plastics ban.
When that failed and only a narrow exception was permitted, the Scottish Government began seeking a new opt-out for the DRS last October via a “common framework” process with Westminster officials.
A timeline shows this process was expected to see a final exemption proposal put to UK ministers in a meeting planned for next week.
The Holyrood-run scheme, set to launch in August, is aimed at slashing waste and litter by placing a 20p deposit on single-use drinks bottles and cans.
But it’s been dogged by industry concerns that it could threaten the viability of small breweries and drinks producers and create a trade barrier with the rest of the UK.
In a bullish statement to MSPs yesterday, Slater hailed data showing more than 90 per cent of drinks products were now covered by the scheme.
However, the stats also show just 664 of more than 4500 producers expected to register had done so.
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