Union demands action to break Brexit log-jam
There is an “over-riding need” to break the current political log-jam between the Scottish and UK governments on how to agree future policy, financial frameworks and repatriation of agricultural powers.
Calling for “meaningful progress” to be made on the long-running impasse between the two governments over the legal mechanism required to make agricultural payments in the immediate aftermath of Brexit in 2019 and 2020, NFU Scotland has written to both UK Secretary of State Michael Gove and Scottish rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing demanding an end to the political stand-off.
Accepting that both sides might have valid arguments, the union’s director of policy, Jonnie Hall, yesterday said that that the over-politicisation of the issue risked jeopardising the ability to get the best deal for Scottish agriculture.
He said that Scottish ministers could take up the option to include a schedule in the UK Agriculture Bill, right up to the final stages – but he added: “An alternative possibility is that Scottish Government introduces its own bill on agricultural matters to the Scottish Parliament.”
However, he said that, with the current absence of a clear commitment from the Scottish Government on tthe possibility of aking this alternative route, it was the union’s current view that a schedule should be included in an Agriculture Bill which had been amended to allay concerns in other areas.
He commented: “If the Scottish Government were to take up the offer of having a schedule inserted into the bill, that would provide the necessary legal basis upon which Scotland could continue beyond Brexit with agricultural policies with very similar objectives and operations to existing measures, such as voluntary coupled support and the less favoured area support scheme.”
Such a move would also provide the vehicle to design and implement an improved Scottish agricultural policy to fit the needs of the country’s unique agricultural profile.
But he added that it was also clear that a schedule for a bespoke Scottish policy should only be accepted if it was instigated and agreed by the Scottish Government.
“It is equally clear to us that such an option would only be taken up by Scottish Government if the bill is amended to reflect the legitimate concerns of Scottish Government as regards the potential for the UK secretary of state to have the power to impose financial constraints on Scottish agricultural policy in areas of devolved competency,” he said
Hall added that legal advice taken by NFU Scotland had lent support to the Scottish Government’s position on this aspect – and further stressed that NFU Scotland had been clear that it was not only the outcomes of the legislative process that would shape agriculture in the future – but also the decision-making processes which were established via the Agriculture Bill.