Alyn Smith SNP MEP for Scotland
has expressed his disappointment at the business and enterprise secretary, Peter
Mandelson's decision to do a u-turn in his support for the Scottish kilt.
Earlier this year, Mr Smith wrote to the then European Commissioner for Trade
seeking clarification on the progress of European measures that would help
protect kilts.

The so-called 'origin marking
scheme' seeks to enhance transparency and help consumers make informed
decisions, and also reduce the incidence of fraudulent or misleading
indications that would undermine the reputation of kilt makers. In his capacity
as European Trade Commissioner, Mr Mandelson described the proposal as:

"in favour of European
consumers, including small and medium sized enterprises, and would serve, among
others, the interest of traditional Scottish textile producers."

Unfortunately however, since
becoming the business and enterprise secretary, Mr Mandelson has adopted the
formal UK Government position that rejects the European Commission proposal in
its current form.

Mr Smith said:

"This appears to be a tale
of two Mandelsons, and I can only guess that his ermine robe has turned his
head.

”Commissioner Mandelson was most helpful in advising me and the Scots textile
industry to use the 'origin marking scheme' to define and protect the Scottish
kilt, he said it is "good not only for consumers but businesses as
well" so for Lord Mandelson to now simply repeat the simply uninterested London line is a bit odd.

"Defining what a Scottish kilt is and then protecting that designation has never been more important for
the Scottish textile industry.

”We are seeing more and more retailers importing foreign knock-offs and passing
them off as quality items made in Scotland by skilled
craftspeople. They are not, and by selling them the retailers are in fact
undermining the very garment they claim to be promoting and Scotland gets
none of the jobs, none of the production and none of the revenue to boot.

"I will continue
to press the UK
government into using the EU avenues, which remain open to us despite Lord
Mandelson's change of heart. As more and more Scots rediscover our heritage
it is more important than ever that it is not undermined by foreign
knock-offs."