Thank you.

That concludes general questions.

The next item of business is First Minister's questions.

At question number one, I call Douglas Ross.

Thank you very much, President.

At midnight on Tuesday, businesses in Scotland were legally required to sign up to the S&P Greens

deposit return scheme.

Thousands of producers rightly decided not to because the scheme is

an absolute shambles. Lorna Slater, the Minister in charge, said just 664 businesses

had registered, but refused six times in this Chamber yesterday to say how many should have

signed up. So will the First

Minister give us that answer now? How many businesses should have signed up to her

Government's deposit return scheme? First Minister?

Well first of all, when a big change is introduced it's understandable. There

will be concerns about it.

I have deep respect for the concerns that are being raised by business and the government

will continue to work with business to address those.

But frankly, the sheer opportunism of some opposition parties who have supported this scheme, rightly supported a deposit return

scheme, previously criticised the government for taking too long to introduce it, to now indulge

in knee-jerk opposition. The opportunism of that, Presiding Officer, frankly, is breathtaking.

And so too is the, and I'll use a parliamentary term that I believe is polite enough,

so too is the blatant distortion of some opposition politicians.

...