Wings Over Scotland

Finally overcome with embarrassment as the entire internet and the rest of the media laughed at it, Scotland on Sunday has pulled its lead story from today’s edition and replaced it with an completely new piece which the old links now redirect to.

The replacement article, written by a “Julia Horton” rather than the previous two-man team of Tom Peterkin and Brian Ferguson, relegates the absurd opposition attack on food standards minister Richard Lochhead to a footnote, and entirely removes the quotes from Labour’s Claire Baker and Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie (below).

As ever, the paper’s attempts to cover its tracks are futile. You can still find a cached version of the original, but in case it vanishes we’ve copied the entire piece here.

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SNP ‘asleep on job’ over horsemeat scandal

By TOM PETERKIN AND BRIAN FERGUSON
Published on Sunday 10 February 2013 00:00

As the UK environment department took urgent steps to improve food safety measures, opposition politicians in Scotland claimed Lochhead was not doing enough to protect the reputation of Scottish beef and should do more to reassure Scottish consumers amid warnings that the crisis will escalate.

Despite food safety being devolved to Scotland, Lochhead refrained from commenting on the scandal until yesterday afternoon, when he issued a statement saying that the matter was the responsibility of the UK government and the European Commission.

Lochhead also declined to answer questions posed by Scotland on Sunday, asking the environment and rural affairs secretary if he was able to give guarantees that horsemeat has not been served in Scottish schools, hospitals and prisons.

He was also asked what was being done to protect the reputation of the Scottish food industry, a major export earner, which is untainted by the scandal.

Yesterday, Claire Baker, Scottish Labour’s environment spokeswoman, said: “The horsemeat scandal has had an impact on Scotland, so it is disappointing that the Scottish Government has not shown any leadership and has taken so long to make a comment on the issue. This has had a big impact on Scottish consumers and there are issues with the supply and distribution chains.

“For a government that is constantly talking about its need for a greater role, you would have thought they could have done something in this instance. There is a role for Richard Lochhead to be playing here. At the bare minimum, he should be giving advice to consumers and should be defending the reputation of Scottish produce.” She added: “He has been asleep on the job and has not been focused on the issues in his brief.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “It would be helpful if Richard Lochhead would work with the industry and suppliers to get to the bottom of this and restore confidence in the sector. Lying low at a time of need is not what the minister should be doing.”

In his statement, Lochhead said “no manufacturers in Scotland” were currently affected, but acknowledged there was “alarm” among consumers. He said: “I am urging the European Commission and the UK government, who have responsibility in this area, to get to the root of this matter immediately.

“While no food safety risks have been identified by the Food Standards Agency so far, it is essential that this scandal is addressed to eliminate the public’s sense of confusion and to prevent any damage to Scotland’s highly-regarded food industry, whose success is built on a reputation for quality.”

Yesterday, following an emergency summit with food industry representatives, the UK Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, warned consumers that there may be more “bad news” to come following extensive checks to be carried out on meat products. Paterson said an international criminal conspiracy may lie at the heart of the affair.

He confirmed supermarkets had now agreed to report their test results on a quarterly basis to protect consumers. Aldi withdrew two ready-meal products on Friday after horsemeat was found in them. Tesco and Findus had already withdrawn certain products.