CIRCULAR Economy minister Lorna Slater has once again ruled out compensation for Scots firms that have invested more £380 million in the delayed Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). 

Answering questions in parliament, the Green also confirmed that the Scottish Government had taken legal advice before last week’s decision to delay the recycling programme until October 2025. 

The minister told MSPs that she had been left in an “impossible situation” after the UK Government’s intervention in the troubled scheme. 

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Under the Scottish Government’s plans, the DRS will see each single-use item carry a levy of 20p which is then refunded when the empty container is returned to retailers.

Earlier this month, the UK Government made clear the Scottish Government would only be given the necessary exemption to the UK Internal Market Act if they made a number of substantial changes.

As well as removing the glass, they included a demand that ministers in Edinburgh agree to standardise the deposit charge and labelling with the other UK schemes.

Ms Slater said the lack of detail around conditions laid down by Whitehall, including not knowing what the deposit charge would need to be, meant the scheme could not go ahead next March as planned.

The Scottish Conservatives said the minister should have secured the exemption before pushing ahead with the launch of the recycling programme.

During topical questions in Holyrood, Jamie Halcro Johnston, the party’s Shadow Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, asked the minister about the economic impact on businesses across Scotland as a result of the decision not to pay compensation. 

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Ms Slater told MSPs: “We have been left with no other option than to reset the timescale of the deposit return scheme and delay the launch until October 2025 at the earliest when the UK government says it will aim to launch its own scheme. 

“This is a consequence of the decision by the UK government to impose only a partial exclusion from the internal market act for deposit return, forcing a last minute change of scope in Scotland's DRS and creating new vague and undeliverable conditions for interoperability with schemes in the rest of the UK, which do not even exist yet. 

“The overwhelming feedback from businesses was that given this last minute imposition by the UK Government, a March launch was no longer possible. 

“A considerable majority of businesses therefore called for that reset of the date to match that of the UK stated target of October 2025 at the earliest to reduce the impact of the UK government's decision at the eleventh hour.

Mr Halcro-Johnson 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.”

He also asked again specifically about compensation, Ms Slater said the Scottish Government did "not consider that any action we have been required to take gives rise to any obligation to pay compensation."

She added that the Scottish Government had received legal advice on matters relating to DRS "on an ongoing basis as appropriate, including prior to any changes to the scheme being announced."

Labour’s Sarah Boyack said she had been told by government that the investment from business was closer to £380m.

“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? 

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Ms 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. 

“So this is us listening to business, to what they wanted to do in order to deal with the situation that we'd been put in because of this partial and temporary exclusion.”