Labour: indyref yes vote could be 'disastrous for farmers'

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Scottish independence could be disastrous for farmers, Labour has warned.

Scotland's prospective terms of membership of the European Union (EU) remain unclear and farm payments from the common agricultural policy (CAP) are particularly ripe for negotiation, Labour rural affairs spokeswoman Claire Baker told MSPs today.

She warned that new member states that joined in 2007 have seen payments phased in gradually, an outcome that would be "disastrous" for Scottish farmers, who currently enjoy CAP payments as part of the UK member state. But the Scottish Government insists that independence would bring "significant additional CAP funds for the benefit of Scotland's farmers and wider rural communities". Ms Baker said: "Once again we hear the assertion from the Government that we would see significant additional CAP funds from independence. "Before becoming a minister, Paul Wheelhouse even claimed when Scotland becomes independent the full economic benefits of convergence between member states will be delivered to Scotland automatically. "And yet, increasingly, the terms of Scotland's EU membership is being questioned. "From claiming it would be automatic, the SNP is now acknowledging the need for negotiations, and what would be more open to negotiation than CAP payments? "We see a reducing budget with more pressures being placed on it and, if we look at recent examples, new member states including those that joined in 2007 have had direct EU payments all phased in gradually. "This would be disastrous for Scottish farming and the SNP can give no guarantees on the future for farmers within the EU." Conservative rural affairs spokesman Alex Fergusson said: "I fear the Government's priorities incline towards the divisive rather than the positive, and I can't possibly support an amendment which takes for granted that an independent Scotland will automatically become the 28th member state of the EU. The jury is very much out on that." Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesman Tavish Scott called on the Scottish Government to give certainty to farmers over the size of single-farm payments they can expect in two years. "What we press for, on behalf of every farmer, crofter and grower, is for the Scottish Government to state its position," he said. "Every farmer and crofter I've met have asked me one simple question: 'what will my single-farm payment be in 2015?' It's a question the Scottish Government needs to answer." Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead has announced 10,190 claims will be paid to farmers and crofters working in some of the most "challenging conditions in Europe. The payments from the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme, worth £56 million, will arrive in bank accounts from Friday, he said. "We still don't even know the exact size of the future CAP budget and the main CAP regulations won't be agreed in Europe before June," he said. "These are key issues before we can have exact scenarios painted for what this would look like in Scotland's circumstances."

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Labour: indyref yes vote could be 'disastrous for farmers'

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