Maurice Golden: I will start by speaking plainly. I do not agree with the Prime Minister’s decision to scale back net zero policies. If we are to succeed in limiting the damage that is caused by climate change, we must be ambitious and show the sort of ambition that was shown when the UK became the first major economy to set achieving net zero in law. Seeing the pathway to that ambition watered down is...
Maurice Golden: It is a framework bill. We may consider how a cynic would look at the SNP’s approach. In 2019, the SNP announced a circular economy bill, then it delayed the bill, then it promised me in this chamber that the bill would be delivered by 2021, and then it worked out that it needed to hold another consultation. We are now in 2023 and we had still not seen the bill. Even then, it is a framework...
Maurice Golden: I need to make a little bit of progress, but I would be happy to give way later. We all want to see recycling improve. It is ridiculous to think that ministers are still trying to meet their 2013 household recycling target a decade later. If they cannot do that, they can forget about net zero. The issue is about more than just recycling; we also need to promote reuse. That is because recycled...
Maurice Golden: I hav e actually got six recycling bins. I am very concerned about the framing of some of the bullet points in the social media clip that Màiri McAllan refers to—in fact, I used that clip this morning when I was talking to the circular economy students. It is deeply disappointing that the climate change debate is being framed in that manner because, during the previous session of...
Maurice Golden: I need to make some progress. Reuse requires better product and system design. Ultimately, the SNP and Greens might try to make excuses, but we can encourage research, support designers and identify emerging talent. The circular economy design academy that I proposed six years ago would help to do that and, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, with the right policies, a circular...
Maurice Golden: As we have heard today, our natural environment is in a perilous condition. Scotland might be one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but it is also one of the most nature depleted. It is ranked 212th out of 240 countries in the biodiversity intactness index. To put that in context, one in nine species in Scotland faces extinction, according to the Royal Society for the Protection...
Maurice Golden: Yes. Alongside targets, we need robust means of holding the Scottish Government to account. A dedicated Scottish environmental court would be one such mechanism, offering better accountability and enforcement as well as an opportunity to address the fragmentation in the current model, develop greater technical expertise in the justice system and improve public access to environmental justice....
Maurice Golden: 7. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in removing highly combustible cladding from buildings. (S6O-02510)
Maurice Golden: A loophole means that combustible cladding can still be used on schools and hospitals under 11m in height and on all hotels and office buildings. The Government is reviewing safety regulations this year, so will the minister close that loophole?
Maurice Golden: Of all the issues on which we could spend precious parliamentary time, we are here today to debate the “constitution for an independent Scotland”. We could have spent today focusing on the NHS waiting times crisis, which includes the cancer treatment target that has been missed for almost a decade. We could have focused on coming up with a plan to reduce Scotland’s shockingly high drug...
Maurice Golden: No. Until recently, the First Minister was suggesting that those prospectus for independence papers were a waste of time.
Maurice Golden: I am happy to do so.
Maurice Golden: I am neither responsible for nor accountable to the UK Government— [ Interruption .]
Maurice Golden: However, if Stuart McMillan would like to question the UK Government, a general election is coming up, in which he might want to consider standing. The First Minister suggested that the prospectus for independence papers were a waste of time because they were being ignored by the general public. However, according to the First Minister, it will be different with him, because he wants to be...
Maurice Golden: I need to make progress. I am in my last 23 seconds. The SNP acts as if it alone knows what is best for Scotland, but the Scottish people rejected independence. In a free and fair referendum, Scotland told it no, but the SNP has never come to terms with that.
Maurice Golden: 8. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of whether its target for a one third reduction in food waste by 2025 will be met. (S6O-02423)
Maurice Golden: I thank the minister for that answer. However, earlier this week, the cabinet secretary was unable to say how much the average food waste reduction has been each year since 2016, when the target was set. It needs to be approximately 33,000 tonnes per year. When setting the target, the Scottish Government would clearly know that. Can the minister—this is a very easy question—actually tell...
Maurice Golden: Does the cabinet secretary believe that river basin management plans are fit for purpose? Would she consider the development and introduction of a water use hierarchy to allow transparency over the use of our precious resource?
Maurice Golden: CSL faces going into needless administration, as a scheme could have launched next year if the Scottish Government had chosen to do that. Instead, the 60-plus staff are facing meaningless platitudes from the minister. [ Interruption .]
Maurice Golden: What support will be provided to those 60-plus staff facing redundancy?
