NFUS chief Mccornick demands meeting with trade minister Fox

Concerns over the tenor of recent trade discussions with New Zealand and Australia has prompted NFU Scotland to seek a meeting with the UK’S international trade minister, Liam Fox.

In an attempt to highlight the priorities of Scotland’s agri-food sector, union president Andrew Mccornick has written to the minster with the intention of setting up a meeting to discuss the UK government’s position towards future trading partners.

“What we are seeking as a union are international trade deals which do not undercut Scotland’s extremely high standards of production, and which allow us to maximise the 0 Andrew Mccornick wants to meet Liam Fox provenance of the Scottish product which is our Unique Selling Point (USP) in foreign markets,” said Mccornick.

“Whatever future trade deal is found for farming, food and drink, it must be bespoke to the Scottish and UK situation.”

He stressed the key importance of such deals, stating that the economic viability of Scotland’s islands, villages and towns were reliant on some profitability remaining in the production end of the food sector.

The move was also prompted by the recent newsthataraftofcountries with trade deals already in place with the EU would be unwilling to accept a simple “carve up” of existing low tariff import quotas, claiming that this would limit their ability to target their exports to higher priced markets.

If the UK was forced to take a greater share than it had accepted in recent years, Mccornick said this could have devastating consequences for many Scottish farmers, especially those producing beef and lamb.