Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 03 October 2013
03 Oct 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Common Agricultural Policy
Sorry. I have a lot to get into my six minutes.
Ireland gets €70 per hectare, Finland gets €138 and the Czech Republic gets €83.
With friends like the UK Government negotiating for us at the top table, members would be forgiven for wondering who needs enemies.
Of course, it gets worse. As we heard from UK environment secretary Owen Paterson when he appeared before our RACCE committee before the summer recess, there is little chance of our getting the full £60 million that the UK Government will receive as a result of CAP convergence, because of Scotland’s figures in relation to the uplift in CAP funds. Of course, the UK Government will receive the money only because Scotland remains, for now, part of the UK.
Perhaps the cabinet secretary can give us good news on that front in his closing speech. However, given Owen Paterson’s pronouncements in recent days, which ranged from welcoming the benefits of global warming to talking about ending direct support completely, I do not hold out much hope of that.
The UK Government is not only representing us poorly in Brussels but withholding funding that is rightly Scotland’s. It has a track record on that, given its point-blank refusal to return the £1.4 million red meat levy that Scottish livestock producers pay annually in relation to stock that are killed south of the border.
It is clear that Scotland’s priorities are not Westminster’s. However, Westminster ministers negotiate on our behalf and have singularly failed to fight for a better allocation of funding in pillar 1 and pillar 2.
I do not want my speech to be a moanfest. On a more positive note, I was pleased to hear my colleague and RACCE committee convener, Rob Gibson, mention crofting. We must ensure that crofters’ voices are heard when the finer details of support in Scotland are being decided. It is important that crofters are fully consulted on the detailed plans for pillars 1 and 2 when consultations with stakeholders take place later in the year.
In my speech in last year’s debate on the CAP, I warned that Scotland’s beef farmers were facing a challenge that could lead to a beef exodus. According to the most recent figures from Quality Meat Scotland, every suckler cow loses £130 per year before support payments are accounted for. If that continues, we will reach a stage at which no cows graze the hills and uplands and no calves come forward to supply lowland beef finishers. That will cut the supply of Scotch beef to consumers.
It is clear that the best way to ensure a viable future for suckler beef production is to channel support into production of beef calves. That, with proper stocking rates, will maintain the upland environment and rural communities.
The problem is not just with suckler herds. If members travel around the outer Hebrides, they will see common grazings that are bereft of sheep, on hills where flocks of sheep would have been grazing 20 years ago. Tavish Scott talked about that.
The Scottish Crofting Federation, at its recent conference in Stornoway, considered how the CAP, including the SRDP, and developments such as community renewable energy projects, could help to revive the use of common grazings and realise their huge potential for crofting communities. Common grazings make up nearly 600,000 hectares of land under crofting tenure, but they have been underused and even abandoned in some areas.
That trend must be reversed. Grazing such land in a controlled way protects the land, increases biodiversity and keeps the land accessible. There is an opportunity to reverse the retreat from the hills through imaginative initiatives, and I look forward to the crofting communities and organisations putting forward ideas in the coming months.
I had other comments to make, but time is running out. The Scottish Government is doing what it can do, but it is clear that the Westminster Government could not care less about Scotland’s farmers. Only with independence will Scotland have the powers that it needs to secure a fair deal for our Scottish farmers.
Ireland gets €70 per hectare, Finland gets €138 and the Czech Republic gets €83.
With friends like the UK Government negotiating for us at the top table, members would be forgiven for wondering who needs enemies.
Of course, it gets worse. As we heard from UK environment secretary Owen Paterson when he appeared before our RACCE committee before the summer recess, there is little chance of our getting the full £60 million that the UK Government will receive as a result of CAP convergence, because of Scotland’s figures in relation to the uplift in CAP funds. Of course, the UK Government will receive the money only because Scotland remains, for now, part of the UK.
Perhaps the cabinet secretary can give us good news on that front in his closing speech. However, given Owen Paterson’s pronouncements in recent days, which ranged from welcoming the benefits of global warming to talking about ending direct support completely, I do not hold out much hope of that.
The UK Government is not only representing us poorly in Brussels but withholding funding that is rightly Scotland’s. It has a track record on that, given its point-blank refusal to return the £1.4 million red meat levy that Scottish livestock producers pay annually in relation to stock that are killed south of the border.
It is clear that Scotland’s priorities are not Westminster’s. However, Westminster ministers negotiate on our behalf and have singularly failed to fight for a better allocation of funding in pillar 1 and pillar 2.
I do not want my speech to be a moanfest. On a more positive note, I was pleased to hear my colleague and RACCE committee convener, Rob Gibson, mention crofting. We must ensure that crofters’ voices are heard when the finer details of support in Scotland are being decided. It is important that crofters are fully consulted on the detailed plans for pillars 1 and 2 when consultations with stakeholders take place later in the year.
In my speech in last year’s debate on the CAP, I warned that Scotland’s beef farmers were facing a challenge that could lead to a beef exodus. According to the most recent figures from Quality Meat Scotland, every suckler cow loses £130 per year before support payments are accounted for. If that continues, we will reach a stage at which no cows graze the hills and uplands and no calves come forward to supply lowland beef finishers. That will cut the supply of Scotch beef to consumers.
It is clear that the best way to ensure a viable future for suckler beef production is to channel support into production of beef calves. That, with proper stocking rates, will maintain the upland environment and rural communities.
The problem is not just with suckler herds. If members travel around the outer Hebrides, they will see common grazings that are bereft of sheep, on hills where flocks of sheep would have been grazing 20 years ago. Tavish Scott talked about that.
The Scottish Crofting Federation, at its recent conference in Stornoway, considered how the CAP, including the SRDP, and developments such as community renewable energy projects, could help to revive the use of common grazings and realise their huge potential for crofting communities. Common grazings make up nearly 600,000 hectares of land under crofting tenure, but they have been underused and even abandoned in some areas.
That trend must be reversed. Grazing such land in a controlled way protects the land, increases biodiversity and keeps the land accessible. There is an opportunity to reverse the retreat from the hills through imaginative initiatives, and I look forward to the crofting communities and organisations putting forward ideas in the coming months.
I had other comments to make, but time is running out. The Scottish Government is doing what it can do, but it is clear that the Westminster Government could not care less about Scotland’s farmers. Only with independence will Scotland have the powers that it needs to secure a fair deal for our Scottish farmers.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick)
NPA
Good afternoon. The first item of business is a debate on motion S4M-07892, in the name of Richard Lochhead, on the common agricultural policy.
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment (Richard Lochhead)
SNP
The debate on the common agricultural policy for 2014 to 2020 provides an opportunity for the Government to update Parliament on the state of play in the Eur...
Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
Has the cabinet secretary approached the UK Government to discuss the possibility of calculating the 8 per cent on the UK’s share rather than just the Scotti...
Richard Lochhead
SNP
Yes we have, and I will talk about that now because this is a key area for Scotland.Unfortunately, our negotiator, Owen Paterson, did not want any coupled su...
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD)
LD
We have heard a lot about the UK Government not batting for Scotland. As I recall, the cabinet secretary was demanding an increase in the budget at the same ...
Richard Lochhead
SNP
I am sure that the member is aware that only 38 per cent of the Europe budget is for CAP. That is one area in which Scotland gets an extremely raw deal. We d...
Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
This is an opportune time to have a CAP debate, and we should not miss the opportunity to discuss the key issues. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s press rel...
Richard Lochhead
SNP
The figures that Claire Baker has read out illustrate why we have to move from the historical basis for payments to a new basis for payments. That is why we ...
Claire Baker
Lab
I accept that that is the formula that is used, but the story behind it is much more complex. It is not just about providing a fairer formula throughout the ...
The Minister for Environment and Climate Change (Paul Wheelhouse)
SNP
I hope that Claire Baker acknowledges that, if we were an independent member state in our own right, we would have benefited from the new formula in terms of...
Claire Baker
Lab
That is not the situation that we face. The SNP proposes that we go into the EU as a new member state and there are concerns about the negotiations that woul...
Alex Fergusson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con)
Con
This is a debate on which I wish it were possible for the Parliament to speak with one voice. We have often managed to do so on this topic in the past, but I...
Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD)
LD
I draw members’ attention to my declaration of interests.I spent last Saturday—as many of us do at this time of the year—at my local mart, in Lerwick. I hear...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith)
Lab
We turn to the open debate. Can I have speeches of six minutes, please?15:11
Rob Gibson (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
SNP
There have been some suggestions that we would be better not having a fragmented approach, but the motion and the amendments show that the fragmentation come...
Alex Fergusson
Con
Will Rob Gibson take a brief intervention?
Rob Gibson
SNP
I have hardly started, but I will.
Alex Fergusson
Con
It is better to take interventions early.If what Mr Gibson said about the budget deal is the case, why did the cabinet secretary describe the deal that came ...
Rob Gibson
SNP
The cabinet secretary was talking about the bits that we got into the deal in relation to dealing with active farming, the Scottish clause and so on—that is ...
David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
President Dwight Eisenhower famously said:“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”It is of co...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
I call Angus MacDonald, to be followed by Graeme Dey. We have a small amount of time in hand for interventions.15:23
Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP)
SNP
As we have heard from the cabinet secretary, the long-drawn-out saga of CAP reform is finally reaching a close, with a vote in the European Parliament in mid...
Claire Baker
Lab
Will the member take an intervention?
Angus MacDonald
SNP
Sorry. I have a lot to get into my six minutes.Ireland gets €70 per hectare, Finland gets €138 and the Czech Republic gets €83.With friends like the UK Gover...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
There is a bit of extra time for members who want to take interventions.15:29
Graeme Dey (Angus South) (SNP)
SNP
I begin my speech by focusing on pillar 2 and how, from a greatly reduced funding pot, it will be made to work to deliver for rural Scotland. By rural Scotla...
David Stewart
Lab
I strongly support the point that the member is making about rural development, but does he share my view that a maximum modulation of 15 per cent from pilla...
Graeme Dey
SNP
I think that there is a balance to be struck in that regard.Within that figure will be people who commute to towns and cities to earn their living but, given...
Jayne Baxter (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
It does not seem so long ago that we were gathered here to discuss the common agricultural policy reform proposals, but it has in fact been more than six mon...
Nigel Don (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP)
SNP
I will start by looking at the Scottish Government’s objectives in the CAP process. As the cabinet secretary has already alluded to, those are to continue to...