Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament am ar 19 Mehefin 2024.
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the United Kingdom Government to discuss the impact of Brexit on Scotland’s food and drink exports. (S6O-03594)
The Scottish Government has taken every opportunity to engage with the UK Government to press it on the impact of Brexit on Scotland’s food and drink sector. The formal mechanism for that is the interministerial group for environment, food and rural affairs, which last met on 13 September 2023. Unfortunately, the group has not met since, as United Kingdom Government ministers have pulled out of subsequent meetings. There are also regular meetings at official level that cover a range of post-Brexit issues that have an impact on Scotland’s food and drink sector.
The outgoing UK Government imposed a deeply damaging and costly Brexit on my constituents and on the economy. Given that the academic think tank, UK in a Changing Europe, said that Labour’s EU plan will have a “minimal” impact on the cost of Brexit, I am glad that the cabinet secretary agrees that only real change from the disaster of Brexit will come when Scotland becomes an independent country with full membership of the EU.
There is overwhelming evidence that the UK Government’s irrational hard Brexit continues to cause significant economic damage to Scotland and, indeed, to the whole UK. For example, in May this year, the Institute of Directors said that 46 per cent of its members were finding EU trade challenging, and that 57 per cent of its members who import or export were identifying new customs regulations as the key problem. Therefore, I completely agree with Marie McNair that the only way forward is for Scotland to become an independent country with full membership of the EU.
I remind members of my declaration of interests as part of a family farming partnership that grows crops and produces beef.
Exports to the European Union of British beef are banned because of bluetongue, which only came into the country through Europe. Does the minister think that the EU—where bluetongue is rife—is right to ban imports from UK countries?
Edward Mountain has raised an important point. It is vital that we take action on all fronts to try to prevent the importation of such diseases, which is why the engagement that we have had with the UK Government on the border target operating model has been frustrating. We originally agreed to endorse that model because we need to take whatever action we can to prevent importation of diseases such as the one that Edward Mountain mentioned. However, there has been a severe lack of engagement from the UK Government in relation to that and in relation to our west coast and qualifying Northern Ireland goods. The member might wish to raise that issue with his colleagues in the UK Government and ask them to engage with us constructively on those matters, so that we can try to address them.