Lib Dems accused of selling out on principles voting with Labour on GM

THE Scottish Liberal Democrats were yesterday accused of selling out their principles in a vote at Holyrood over GM crops.

The majority of Liberal MSPs refused to support a Green motion calling for ministers to rethink their strategy on GM crops, choosing instead to back the Scottish Executive.

Thanks to their support, an Executive amendment stating that ministers did not have the powers to ban GM maize was passed by 61 votes to 57, with one abstention.

The decision came just a week after Liberal Democrat MSPs were accused of caving in to the Executive in another debate on GM crops, which ministers won by just one vote.

The debates were provoked after the Executive announced earlier this month that they and their counterparts in Cardiff and Westminster had given qualified consent to the maize crop Chardon LL.

Allan Wilson, the deputy environment minister, insisted he had neither the scientific evidence nor the legal power to ban the crop.

However, in a preliminary legal opinion commissioned by the Greens after last week’s knife-edge vote, an advocate stated: "I am satisfied that it is arguable that the Executive has not used all the measures available to it to prevent the future commercial sowing of Chardon LL genetically modified maize."

Following yesterday’s vote, opposition parties immediately accused the Liberal Democrats of abandoning their policies and selling out the democratic process.

The last Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto states that until the public debate on GM is concluded, they would not permit any further GM field trials or commercial growing of GM crops.

The Scottish Greens, who are now writing an open letter of complaint to Jim Wallace, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said they could not understand why MSPs refused to accept a "simple and reasonable" proposal to ask the Executive to re-examine its legal advice on GM.

Mark Ruskell, a Green MSP, said: "It is unacceptable of the Liberal Democrats in particular to oppose transparency in the Scottish Parliament, and they are sending a strong signal to voters and citizens that regardless of public and legal concerns, their own political interests are more important."

Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP’s environment spokeswoman, said: "At least the Liberal Democrats are consistent - consistent in their betrayal of the Scottish environment.

"At their conference they passed a resolution for GM to be kicked out, yet twice in the space of one week, MSPs have preferred to vote with Labour. You have to wonder how they can continue to call themselves Liberal Democrats."

And Alex Johnston, the environment spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: "Sadly, the Liberal Democrats have let everyone down again. They are now a party that says one thing but votes for another. They are doing more singlehandedly to undermine trust in Scottish politics than any other party."

However, a spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats defended the MSPs."What this tells us is that the fundamental flaw in the Green Party motion was not accepted because there is no getting away from the fact that the power of the parliament and the Executive is curtailed by European law," he said.

"We have always set out that the most important principle is the precautionary approach, and we will not do anything that goes against that."