Right trade deals vital for the post-brexit future
A smooth exit from the EU – with the right trade deals and legislation in place – remains central to ensuring a viable future for the country’s farms and other rural businesses.
And yesterday saw a chorus of rural organisations all singing from the same hymn-sheet as far as avoiding a no-deal exit from the EU was concerned as the Scottish Government released its papers calling for a two year extension to the Brexit discussions.
“Brexit remains a bigger threat to much of the farming, food and drink industry than the current Covid-19 crisis,” stated NFU Scotland president, Andrew Mccornick who said that since the outcome of the EU referendum in 2016, the union had stressed the need for an equitable deal on trade, immigration and support policies.
“It is vital for the agriculture, food and drink industries that the deal negotiated with the EU before the end of the year meets all these key tests. As the crisis with Covid-19 has illustrated, most firms in this vital sector simply do not have the capacity to prepare for a chaotic change in EU trading arrangements.”
However, while he stated that an extension to the transition period would be better than no deal at the end of the year, Mccornick expressed the view that it was “practically impossible” to see circumstances where the UK Government would accept this as an outcome:
“So in order for a deal with the EU to be done… we need a step change in engagement from the UK Government and a recognition that much still has to be done. We must start to see real progress in the trade talks in the time that remains.”
The landowners and rural business organisation, Scottish Land and Estates said that supporting economic recovery had to be the guiding principle for any decision on when the UK left the EU:
“Regardless of when the UK leaves the EU, it is imperative that we focus our attention on making sure we have the right trade deals, legislative framework and support in place for businesses. A strong economy is critical for our rural economies and natural environment,” said the SLE’S chief executive, Sarah-jane Laing.
She said that no-one could have predicted the global pandemic during 2020 adding that any decision on our Brexit departure had to take this into consideration:
“If Brexit is delayed, we need to see this extra time used wisely to ensure the right measures are put in place to allow rural Scotland to thrive.”
The Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF), however, threw its weight firmly behind the calls for an extension to the negotiations:
“The Covid-19 pandemic is, quite rightly, absorbing considerable resources from all our national governments”, said Yvonne White, he organisation’s chair.
She said the SCF entirely supported the call for a two-year extension to the transition period:
“This is too important and affects the economic wellbeing of too many people for the negotiations to be rushed to meet a selfimposed and arbitrary deadline.”