Raising the issue in Parliament, Mr Poynton commended the volunteers for their efforts in addressing the causes and consequences of illegal dumping, while drawing attention to poor enforcement figures in Scotland:
“I recently had the pleasure of meeting with the West Lothian Litter Pickers who are doing so much in my Livingston constituency to reduce the causes and the symptoms of fly tipping and of litter too.
But it's scandalous that their work is needed. In Scotland, the latest figures show that only 1.2% of fly tipping incidents have resulted in a fixed penalty notice and a mere 0.2% in a criminal prosecution.
Does the Minister agree with me, that in sharp contrast, this UK Labour government is taking a zero tolerance approach and cracking down on fly tipping, the Scottish Government's record in this area is quite frankly, rubbish?”
Responding from the government front bench, the Minister for Nature, Mary Creagh CBE MP, acknowledged Mr Poynton’s concerns and joined in commending the West Lothian group: “I'm sorry to hear that the SNP are not taking the firm action, but perhaps where we've led the way they would like to follow. What I'd like to also do is congratulate West Lothian Litter Pickers and pay tribute to Keep Britain Tidy, whose Great British Spring Clean backed by the Daily Mirror helped tackle the 30 million tonnes of litter discarded on our streets each year, including 5 billion cigarette butts, which, each cigarette butt can poison 1,000 litres of water. If we're serious about marine litter we also have to, we have to pick up our butts and perhaps a little less talk and a little more action from the party opposite.”
The exchange highlighted the SNP Government’s poor handling of environmental enforcement, with recent figures showing a negligible rate of prosecutions for fly tipping offences.
Gregor Poynton MP is currently supporting West Lothian Litter Pickers engage with West Lothian Council on a number of local litter issues and plans to join a local litter picking group on a pick in the coming weeks.