Gove will have to pay no-deal farming bill, vows Ewing

Agriculture:

Michael Gove will be liable for billions of pounds of a no-deal Brexit farming bill, Scotland’s agriculture secretary has vowed.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with the UK Rural Affairs Secretary, Fergus Ewing said the cost of a no-deal Brexit to farmers must be covered by the UK Government.

Mr Ewing said he would follow the lead of Irish Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, who will seek more than 500 million euros of aid from Brussels if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal at the end of March.

He said: “Of course we will absolutely continue to champion the case for farmers and if there are costs to farmers resultant from a no-deal then Mr Gove is responsible for them. He has said so himself.

“It’s going to be billions. I would far rather eliminate a catastrophic no-deal than deal with it after it’s happened.”

Insisting Mr Gove must rule out no deal, Mr Ewing said such a scenario would be impossible for the Scottish Government to mitigate and costs would need to be recovered centrally.

“We have made it absolutely clear, and I will make it clear to Michael Gove when I meet him today, that the additional costs that arise are the responsibility of the UK Government,” he said.

“All the costs resultant from a no-deal process would be the responsibility of the UK Government.”

Michael Gove: ‘responsible’