FARMING leaders have called on politicians to back Theresa May’s Brexit plan for the sake of the agricultural sector.
Jonnie Hall, director of policy and member services at the National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland, told MPs that while the Prime Minister’s beleaguered Chequers plan was not perfect, it was workable.
He told Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee a “no-deal” scenario for leaving the EU was the “biggest fear” of the farming, food and drink sectors.
Hall said: “We will argue very, very strongly that for the agriculture and food and drink sectors in Scotland, having access to the European market is absolutely vital, but that access has to be unfettered and as friction-free as possible.
“We’re dealing with food products – by definition they’re usually perishable and therefore things like customs delays and non-tariff barriers, and so on, that slow processes down could be highly damaging.
“Being exposed to significant tariffs, particularly in the red meat sector, would also be hugely damaging for our sheep and beef producers, in particular, but also other sectors as well would suffer as a consequence.”
He added: “Our view of this, it may be entirely wishful thinking, but we would love to see all the party politics getting stripped out of all of this and some pragmatism coming to the fore in just saying ‘right, we need the right outcome for British, Scottish agriculture and food and drink sectors, and arguably the rest of the economy as well’.
“Chequers isn’t perfect, but it is something that certainly the agriculture and food and drinks sectors can work with, but it requires a political will from elected folk from all sorts of parliaments and assemblies to actually get behind this.”
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