A NO-DEAL Brexit will cost Scotland’s food and drink sector £2 billion and risk businesses being “pushed over the edge”, an industry leader has warned.

James Withers, the chief executive of Scotland Food and Drink, said the ongoing uncertainty over the UK’s future relationship with the EU means some businesses are already stopping selling products there.

With Scotland normally exporting about £1.2bn worth of food to the EU every year, having to resort to World Trade Organisation terms will be a “living nightmare for a lot of food and drink businesses”, he added.

Withers said: “The impact of tariffs could effectively end most of our red meat exports to Europe.

“Scotch lamb would face tariffs of between 40 and 50%, beef over 80%.”

With more than 80% of Scottish red meat exports going to Europe, he said this trade could be “be wiped out overnight” after January 1.

He added: “Even for products where the tariffs are a lot lower, like seafood, that tariff could make the difference between profit and loss.

“This would be a nightmare in any normal year, on the back of a pandemic which has cost, we believe, the Scottish food and drink sector about £3bn in lost sales this year, it could push some businesses to the edge.”

Scotland Food and Drink was part of a group of organisations that wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson requesting a six-month grace period be put in place.

Withers said there has been no formal response from Johnson but ministers from both the Scotland Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have told him the idea is a “non-runner”.

He said a No-Deal would be an act of “huge economic negligence” and cost up to £2bn in lost revenues to the industry.

He added: “Covid is horrendous – but it is temporary, Brexit is not."

A UK Government spokesperson said: “Leaving the European Union means we can take advantage of the growing global demand for great British produce.”