BORIS Johnson has been hounded by Scottish MPs about the Australian trade deal and its impact on Scottish farmers.
Ian Blackford, the leader of the SNP group at Westminster, said the deal should be put to a vote during this afternoon's session of PMQs.
He also described Mr Johnson's response to questions about protections for Scottish farmers as "tripe", accused the Tories of “literally giving the farm away” and said crofters had been shoved "under the Brexit bus".
Mr Blackford described the UK’s trade deal with Australia as “disastrous”, adding: “For all the spin it’s clear that his Tory Government has just thrown Scottish farmers and crofters under their Brexit bus, just as they sold out our fishing community.”
He added: “Can the Prime Minister confirm that from day one of this deal 35,000 tonnes of Australian beef and 25,000 tonnes Australian lamb will be free to flood the UK market tariff free?”
Mr Johnson replied: “This is a great deal for the UK, it’s a great deal for Scotland… how absolutely tragic that it should be the posture of the SNP to see absolutely no way in which Scottish farmers could be able to take advantage of the opportunities to export around the (world).”
Mr Blackford was the first of several SNP MPs to ask about the deal, including his deputy Kirsten Oswald, Owen Thompson and Marion Fellows MPs.
Ms Oswald said the deal “means undercutting our farmers, short-changing consumers, and will set animal welfare standards back by decades.”
She quoted statements from the RSPCA that said the deal will “start a race to the bottom and the losers will be millions of farmed animals and UK farmers” and asked if the PM accepted their views, or if he thought he ‘knew better’.
Marion Fellows MP did similar, quoting criticism from the National Farmers Union Scotland about the deal saying it provided no long-term assurances for the sector.
Mr Johnson replied that Scotland deserved MPs that would “champion” it and judging by the SNP’s questions, nobody would know about the ebnefits to the whisky or financial services sector from the deal.
He added: “I really think that these constant attacks on Australia and their animal welfare standards will be very much resented by the people of Australia, they would not be recognised actually.
“Australia [was given] a five out of five , the highest possible, by the World Organization of Animal Health performance evaluations for animal welfare. This deal that we've done is the first ever to incorporate high animal welfare status standards as part of the package Australia has agreed.”
Stewart McDonald, MP for Glasgow South, raised the plight of staff working for two Glasgow restaurants – BlueDog and AdLib - who he said had not been paid despite being furloughed since last year.
He said: “ At two venues in Glasgow called BlueDog and AdLib, staff there have had no furlough payments since the summer of last year. Having raised this with HMRC directly, the situation still hasn’t moved forward. if i send him the details, will he knock heads together and help the staff whose bills are going unpaid and debts are rising, and get the cash into the accounts they are entitled to?
Mr Johnson replied that he was “very happy to look at it”.
Alba MP Kenny MacAskill asked the Prime Minister if he would look at reforming the law to separate the powers of the Lord Advocate and crown prosecutor, following the appointment of Dorothy Bain by the Scottish Government last night.
Mr MacAskill said: “A new lord advocate is taking up the position but the structural flaws in the office remain.
“In no other legal jurisdiction in the UK or indeed the western world is the government’s senior legal adviser simultaneously the country’s chief prosecutor.
“ Yet the role is enshrined in the Scotland Act 1988.
“Will the PM commit to changes so that this historical inaccuracy be changed and a separation of powers be achieved?”
Mr Johnson responded: I will study the anomaly that he raises and revert to him as soon as possible”
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