New UK Government Leadership Needs to Support Scottish Farmers

Following changes at the top of government in Westminster it is more important than ever to ensure the interests of the north-east are accounted for.

Earlier this month, I wrote to Theresa Villiers, the new secretary for the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs, asking for a timetable for the repayment of the £160 million which has been taken from Scotland's farmers by the UK Tory government.

The £160 million of convergence funding was allocated by the EU to Scotland but was retained by the Conservative government and used across the UK instead.

However, new Prime Minister Johnson appeared to give a commitment to "make sure Scotland's farmers get the support they are owed" at a Conservative leadership hustings event during his bid for leadership.

Scottish farmers have not forgotten that the UK Tory government has withheld £160 million in funding rightfully due to them.

It is solely because of Scotland that the UK, as the member state, qualified for this funding.

The new secretary of state has an opportunity early in her tenure to set right this historic wrong.

PM Johnson has given a commitment, which has been welcomed by the NFUS president, so it should be a simple matter of carrying out the will of the PM and paying the money.

Scottish farmers will be expecting more than warm words from the new secretary of state.

She needs to send a clear signal to Scottish farmers that she understands their distinct challenges and is prepared to pay them what is rightfully theirs.

In other words, she needs to decide whether she will back Scotland's farmers, or betray them like her predecessor.

The road to October 31 is nearing ever closer and we must ensure that the promises the new Prime Minister is making are kept and that he and his government are held to account.

The Climate Emergency

I was pleased to see the Scottish Government has extended its commitment to addressing the climate emergency we face with further announcements including the opening of a new £6 million project which will use cutting-edge renewable technology to harness energy from water.

As well as this, the Scottish Government is investing £300,000 to expand the Climate Ready Classrooms initiative to help young people aged 14-17 to develop their understanding of climate change, its causes and potential impacts.

The programme aims to engage with at least 50 per cent of Scotland's secondary schools in the next two years and accredit almost 5000 young people as carbon literate.

There was also additional support announced for communities across Scotland to undertake their own Big Climate Conversations, which will feed-in to the Scottish Government public engagement strategy on climate change.

These are all important changes which will help to transform the way we deal with the impact of climate change but also our approach to the challenges we face around it.

It is particularly important that the younger generation learn how to be carbon literate and how we can be the change we wish to see in the world.

SNP MSP finds fears over Brexit dominating

An interview by Alan Beresford of the Banffshire Advertiser

BREXIT continued to dominate constituent concerns for local MSP Stewart Stevenson as he got his mobile surgery tour under way last week.

The Advertiser caught up with the SNP MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast when his surgery rolled into Rathven. For the third year in a row, fears over the continuing uncertainty surrounding the UK's exit from the EU were top of the list for individuals and businesses alike.

He said:

"The political system is not delivering and a period of intense uncertainty has not been resolved for sometime.

"Businesses in particular are telling me they're finding it difficult to plan for the future.

"Fish processors are experiencing difficulties filling vacancies and have concerns regarding selling their produce in the EU if there's a no-deal Brexit.

"The fish-catching sector has a different set of challenges but they, too, also have worries concerning selling their catch to Europe if a no-deal Brexit means it's sitting for days at a port waiting to clear customs.

"Brexit has definitely topped the list again as a major concern - the UK government is now three years down the line without appearing any closer to a resolution."

The future of Brexit and whatever shape it may take, plus the future relations of the four constituent parts of the UK, very much hang for the moment on the outcome of the Conservative Party leadership race between front-runner Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt.

Mr Stevenson warned there could be many turbulent times ahead for both Scotland and the UK as a whole.

"In a sense there will be no winner from this race, it's a poisoned chalice." he continued.

"The question is what will the winning candidate make of it.

"So far the campaign has been very unconvincing and it would seem neither candidate can deal with the diversity of opinion within the four nations of the UK regarding Brexit.

"One might have thought that there would've been an attempt to build some sort of accord."

Looking ahead into the murky waters of the next six months, not least the October 31 deadline for leaving the EU, Mr Stevenson said the main difficulties would most likely be economic ones, including the impacts on filling jobs vacancies in many sectors caused by a "hardline" attitude to immigration.

He said:

"Whether we leave with the May deal or no deal, the economic impact is going to be huge.

"Scotland is an exporting nation and many products depend on timely delivery.

"I've already written to Michael Gove [Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] and the local council regarding this issue.

"There may be as many as six different pieces of paperwork required to export fish alone depending on how we leave the EU.

"Far from abolishing paperwork Brexit could now make it far more difficult and costly for firms to export."

As for the candidates to succeed Theresa May as Tory leader and Prime Minister, Mr Stevenson was scathing in assessment of their commitment to Scotland and her interests.

Turning first to Mr Johnson - who was recently the centre of much anger north of the border when it was revealed that as editor of The Spectator in 2004 he had published a poem calling for the "extermination" of the Scots - Mr Stevenson said:

"Boris Johnson has said some deeply insulting things about the Scots and Scotland.

"His true feelings for anything north of his Uxbridge constituency are either disregard or ignorance.

"A man known for his idleness and disregard for policy detail is unlikely to do anything to help Scotland."

Mr Hunt fared little better in the MSP's analysis.

"Mr Hunt has particularly found himself changing his mind on a range of policy areas as the leadership campaign has progressed.

"He has no understanding of the needs of the whole UK, to say his leadership can benefit Scotland is a nonsense. He's too hardline."