The fishing industry in Scotland could be jeopardised by moving to independence, the UK’s fisheries minister Richard Benyon  has claimed. Speaking at the Conservative Conference in Stirling he said dividing the Scottish and rest of UK fishing fleets would be “in no one’s best interests” and issued a call to keep the UK together when the referendum vote is held next year. Benyon, who has been part of talks in Europe lasting until 4am on reforming the EU’s common fisheries policy, told the conference: “We are on the verge of a highly significant breakthrough. “Some shrill voices say we are too removed from the needs of Scotland, but let me say to you the fishing industry matters to the people of Scotland and the Scottish fishing industry matters to the UK government and to...

Getting businesses to follow a truly environmentally-friendly route is a notoriously tricky one. Firms large and small may start off with the best of intentions, with the aim of bringing more sustainable practices into the workplace, but when the economic reality kicks in – and the changes maybe mean extra investment or higher costs in the short term – these good ideas can be put on the backburner or shelved entirely as directors and managers are unwilling to take too much of a risk. But as the price of oil and manufacturing costs rise and materials become scarcer, there is a growing support for a move towards an economic model that can be sustained – the circular economy. Research from Westminster’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on Resource Security in...

Scottish Coal’s collapse has raised one of those tricky questions about the murky grey area where the environment and economics meet. The company, responsible for operating six open cast mines in East Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and Fife, has closed, affecting more than 600 jobs. Action from Energy Minister Fergus Ewing was swift – he set up the Scottish Open Cast Mining Taskforce with the aim of ensuring that as many jobs as possible could be retained and the SNP minister told the Parliament it was hoped the preferred bidder, Hargreaves, would be able to preserve about 300 jobs in the first six months, with a rise of up to 500 in the first year – if it takes over. He also took the opportunity to warn that the biggest threat to the coal industry was the increased freight charges to...

In a country where the rain is plentiful and a sunny day can make headline news – the weather is never far away from conversation. But even so, it still comes as something of a surprise when Alex Hill, who has been with the Met Office since starting as a forecaster in Glasgow nearly 40 years ago, says, slightly tonguein- cheek, “there is nothing you do, day or night, that we don’t have something to do with.” While the public face of the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service dating back more than 150 years, is still the map on a TV screen dotted with sunny spells and rainclouds, the organisation has had an ever-expanding role, taking on board knowledge and giving out advice to ensure towns and villages are resilient against floods and preparing for climate change. Hill...

COMMITTEE 22.05.13: Crofting (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1 Paul Wheelhouse gave evidence to the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee on the proposed amendment to the Crofting Reform Bill, passed in 2010. The Environment Minister said the new bill would remove current legal doubts over allowing owner-occupier crofters to apply to decroft their land. Although there has been disagreement from senior lawyers in Scotland on whether new legislation is needed, Wheelhouse said he shared the concerns of others, such as Sir Crispin Agnew QC and chair of the Scottish Crofting Federation Derek Flyn, that “the existing legislation clearly does not work.” A total of 50 decrofting applications have been suspended and Wheelhouse was asked by committee vice-chair Graeme Dey...