The soap opera surrounding Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) took a dramatic plot twist this week as the country’s first minister accused the UK government of sabotage.
Humza Yousaf was reacting to a decision by the UK Government to require that glass is excluded from Scotland’s DRS in order to ensure future alignment with other UK schemes. “They’re not just trying to scupper the DRS – they’re trying to undermine devolution,” thundered Yousaf in response to the heavily caveated Internal Market Act exclusiongranted by Westminster.
The BBC reported a source as saying that the scheme – currently due to launch in March next year after a series of delays – is now 50/50 to go ahead as planned.
Whether the UK Government’s decision will give businesses the clarity they say they have been seeking remains to be seen. It certainly hasn’t pleased C&C Group, the maker of Scotland’s biggest selling lager Tennent’s, which said the removal of glass from the scheme would put jobs and investment in Scotland at risk. Drinks like Tennent’s, which are typically sold in cans, would be placed at a significant competitive disadvantage, the company said.
Elsewhere in Scotland, the mood within pockets of the business community was buoyed this week by news that plans to require out-of-home businesses to provide calorie labelling have been paused. In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, minister for public health Jenni Minto said the government wished to have further discussions with the hospitality sector before taking a decision to proceed with the measure. She also said ministers needed a better understanding of the lived experiences of those with an eating disorder, who are concerned that mandatory calorie labelling will make their illness worse, before taking a final decision.
UKHospitality Scotland executive director Leon Thompson welcomed the news. “I’m pleased the Scottish Government has listened to the concerns of UKHospitality Scotland and delayed the introduction of mandatory calorie labelling,” he said. “The planned introduction was additional red-tape that hospitality businesses scarcely need and would have come with enormous cost.”
Out-of-home calorie labelling has been mandated for large businesses in England since April 2022, which has resulted in many UK-wide high street chains now including such information on their menus in outlets in Scotland.
Minto also announced a delay to plans to restrict the promotion of less healthy food and drink by banning practices like multibuy offers or placement at checkouts. The government plans to hold a new consultation on the detail of proposed regulations this autumn rather than move ahead with primary legislation. Obesity Action Scotland noted that the consultation will be the fourth on the issue of restricting promotions of unhealthy foods. “We support [the government] to take this action forward but we urge them to take it boldly and urgently,” said the charity’s programme lead Lorraine Tulloch.
Rishi Sunak may have secretly been hoping the flood of food and drink news from north of the border might distract from his own government’s food policy inertia. If so the prime minister would have been left reeling this week by an acerbic attack from Shore Capital’s Clive Black in which the seasoned food sector analyst decried the UK food system as “a puppet of a failing, shallow, ignorant and low capability UK Government”.
Black reserved his greatest ire for the proposal, teased in the media this week, that Sunak is warm to the idea of asking businesses to impose strict price controls on basic items such as milk and bread, a policy Black described as “folly” (among other, stronger words). “Mistakenly we thought Sunak and Hunt may be non-idiots, non-detached, non-delusional, and totally incapable, unlike their Defra crowd. Alas, we were wrong,” blasted Black. Next time tell us what you really think, eh Clive?
And finally to news that Wyke Farms has decided to ‘zig’ while other firms ‘zag’ on claims of carbon neutrality. The Somerset-based dairy producer says its Ivy’s Reserve salted farmhouse butter is now certified as carbon neutralfollowing a cradle-to-grave footprint analysis undertaken in partnership with the Carbon Trust. The butter will be produced in Wyke Farms’ new butter dairy facility which is powered by home-produced renewable electricity and gas; emissions have been offset via the purchase of carbon credits from third parties. Footprint recently reported how foodservice companies are reviewing their carbon neutral pledges in the face of growing pressure from consumers, campaigners, investors and regulators on the controversial approach that invariably relies on offsetting emissions.
