The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Testy debate over funding for farmers
The convener of Holyrood’s rural affairs committee has clashed with the minister in charge of agriculture over funding.
Conservative MSP Finlay Carson questioned Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon yesterday during her appearance before the committee to discuss her remit in the role.
In testy exchanges, the pair initially clashed over a £33 million saving taken from the rural affairs allocation to balance last year’s budget, with promises from the thendeputy first minister it would be returned.
Asked by Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton when the money will be returned, Ms Gougeon said she could not give a “definitive timetable” but said the funding is “ring-fenced” – meaning it will have to come back to the rural affairs allocation and she will continue discussions with Deputy First Minister Shona Robison.
Mr Carson claimed the money was “taken out of the budget to be spent on something else” – an assertion rejected by the government’s director of agriculture and rural economy George Burgess.
The exchange escalated when Mr Carson pressed the minister on how much funding she wants from the UK Treasury for agriculture in the future, culminating in the convener accusing her of hypocrisy.
The sector receives £620m from Westminster, with NFU Scotland head of rural policy Jonnie Hall saying farmers “absolutely rely on that” in a previous meeting of the committee.
Ms Gougeon said discussions with the UK Government have not started, claiming the Scottish Government is being “ignored”, but did not say how much money she will be looking for when talks begin, but that she hopes previous promises will continue and any shortfalls as a result of losing EU funding will also “be addressed”.
She added: “We need to have that discussion on allocations, we need to go through that in detail.
“We need to discuss that with the UK Government, I can’t set out in committee today a definitive figure because we need to have the discussions on how these allocations are going to work.”
Pressed on the Scottish Government’s “ideal position”, Mr Burgess said it would not be the best way to start a negotiation by broadcasting your starting and your fallback positions.
Mr Carson responded: “I don’t think the farmers of Scotland will think that’s a good position, they’ll want to have some sort of clarity.”
After a protracted exchange where Ms Gougeon stressed the importance of addressing Brexit-related “shortfalls”, Mr Carson referred back to the earlier exchange on the budget, saying: “It’s a little bit hypocritical that you can’t tell us about the £33m shortfall, never mind any other shortfall.”
Ms Gougeon said: “That’s not hypocritical at all and I think you’re confusing points that aren’t remotely related.”