THE SNP has urged Boris Johnson to rule out a No-Deal Brexit to protect the Scottish farming industry as new research reveals more than half of UK farms could go out of business after the UK leaves the EU.

The report, written by former chief economist of the National Farmers’ Union Dr Sean Rickard, warns that 50% of farms could go out of business in a No-Deal Brexit scenario because the UK Government would emphasise lower food prices ahead of protecting agricultural producers.

The report also says the EU – and all the other countries it has free-trade agreements with – would immediately apply tariffs and other hurdles to food imports from the UK in the event of a No-Deal Brexit while at the same time, tariffs on imports to the UK could be slashed or reduced to nothing.

The SNP has repeatedly called on the UK Government to stop harming Scotland’s food and drink industries and warned that Brexit would have a devastating impact on Scotland’s farming community – 360,000 Scottish jobs are dependent on agriculture and it is the third largest employer in rural Scotland.

SNP Rural Affairs spokesperson Deidre Brock MP said: “This is the latest stark warning that a no-deal Brexit will be catastrophic for Scotland's farming sector.

“Boris Johnson is in total denial about the devastating impact his extreme Brexit plans would have on farmers and producers across Scotland and the UK – leaving many struggling to survive.

“It is time Boris Johnson took his head out of the sand and heeded the latest in a series of warnings about how devastating his ‘do or die’ Brexit will be for farmers in Scotland and the UK.

“It is also imperative that the UK government stops ducking its responsibilities, stumps up the missing £160 million in convergence payments it owes Scotland’s farmers, and scraps its hostile environment policies that have caused so much damage to Scotland’s food and drink industry.

“Yet again Scotland is being completely ignored by Westminster, and it’s clearer than ever the only way to properly protect Scotland’s interests is by becoming an equal and independent European country.”