A NEW taskforce set up to tackle the devastating impact of Brexit on the fishing and seafood industry is to meet for the first time this week.
The new group has been set up by the UK Government in response to rising anger over the lack of action to resolve the problems surrounding exports which has seen the industry facing multi-million pound losses.
Scotland Office minister David Duguid has now pledged to “work collaboratively across UK and Scottish governments” and has invited Scottish Rural Economy Secretary, Fergus Ewing to take part in this week’s meeting.
It comes after sector leaders accused Westminster of being “in denial” about the chaos. Producers have been left frustrated at the failure of the UK Government to resolve the problems caused by new checks required for exports. They claim paperwork for just one shipment can be amount to nearly 30 pages of detail.
Last month hauliers staged a protest in central London against the Brexit deal, while James Withers, chief executive at Scottish Food and Drink, told the Scottish Affairs Committee it had been a “dreadful first few weeks” because of issues with IT systems crashing and paperwork.
The new Scottish Seafood Exports Task Force is to meet fortnightly and will include representatives from the catching, processing and aquaculture sectors.
READ MORE: David Duguid under fire for throwing Scottish fishing 'under a Brexit bus' to BBC
Duguid claimed the UK Government had been working “day and night” to resolve the problems. “We have had extensive consultations with the industry and have been working day and night to resolve issues around the new arrangements for getting our world-class seafood to customers in Europe,” he said.
“From this ongoing consultation with industry representatives, I believe that the gap they would like us to fill would comprise an action-oriented group. This will work collaboratively across UK and Scottish governments, increasing confidence in the seafood and aquaculture supply chain by ensuring that medium and longer-term export issues are resolved.”
He insisted: “I am clear about the need for action. I want the taskforce to track the export process to identify issues stopping or delaying export, and areas of complexity that are not yet well understood.”
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