Scottish government minister, Lorna Slater, has managed to survive a vote of no confidence tabled by Conservative MSP Liam Kerr. The circular economy minister, and co-leader of the Scottish Greens, has faced heavy criticism for her handling of Scotland’s controversial deposit return scheme in recent months. To make matters worse, hours before politicians voted on Kerr’s motion, Slater was this afternoon forced to admit that the company running the scheme, Circularity Scotland, had appointed administrators.
Though Slater saw off the vote, with 55 MSPs voting for the motion while 68 voted against it, her reputation did not escape unscathed from the rather unedifying debate. The anger at deposit return scheme-related failings radiated from all sides of the chamber. ‘It is not fair for workers to lose their jobs as a result of government decisions,’ said Labour’s Sarah Boyack, citing the problems facing businesses already signed up to the scheme, ‘and for Lorna Slater not to lose hers.’
Kerr accused First Minister Humza Yousaf of having misplaced his confidence in Slater, while Scottish Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton said the scheme’s shortcomings under Slater had cost ‘the trust of the people’. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton came out fighting on two fronts however, slamming the Scottish government’s handling of the DRS as making ‘a pigs ear…[out] of a good idea’, before turning his attention to the Scottish Tories. Accusing the Conservative party of bringing about the motion merely to ‘distract from their own problems in London’, Cole-Hamilton described the full debate as ‘wholly depressing’, adding that both the SNP and Conservative governments are ‘incapable of owning up to their mistakes’.
The most striking comments were not made in the chamber, but in a statement written by Fergus Ewing, SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn, who revealed that he voted in favour of the motion. Describing his own government’s scheme as ‘fatally and irremediably flawed’, Ewing said that his concerns about the impact of the DRS on businesses across the country were ‘ignored or dismissed’. He continued:
Had the scheme been halted in summer or autumn 2021 as I called for then, the massive losses now incurred by hundreds of businesses would have been avoided, as would the major political damage caused. The minister with responsibility for the scheme does not enjoy the confidence of business.
Ewing has long been considered part of the party’s rebel faction, and references made about him by the Scottish Conservatives this afternoon suggested that the Tories were hopeful he would side with them. While Ewing’s move was not enough to threaten Lorna Slater’s position, it does raise serious questions about Ewing’s own position within the party, and indeed whether he will have the whip removed.
The Scottish Green party was supposed to help the nationalists in government by creating a pro-independence majority – not force them to defend their coalition partners against no confidence attacks. Though there was only one rebel vote, today’s debate will have left SNP politicians wondering just how much of a help or hindrance their coalition partners really are.
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