Meeting of the Parliament 09 December 2014
Sorry, but I am running out of time. Perhaps the cabinet secretary can address the issue in his winding-up speech.
The final part of the Government motion calls for Mr Lochhead to lead the delegation, which is almost as much part of the annual ritual as the December negotiations themselves. As I have said before, what matters most is to ensure that the UK position reflects the priorities of the Scottish industry and that that is then backed up with UK votes. Ensuring that those positions are arrived at sensibly and reflect the relative importance of different parts of the sector is key.
Despite what Mr Lochhead said, the Smith agreement makes it clear that the Scottish ministers should lead the UK delegation. Of course, there needs to be agreement with the Welsh, English and Northern Irish on the UK negotiating position, but in many areas, notably with pelagic and white-fish stocks, the Scottish interest will be and should be the predominant one.
Should the UK Government have sent an unelected lord to the fisheries council instead of Richard Lochhead, if he could have been there? No. That is why the Smith agreement recommends an intergovernmental arrangement that works: a Scottish lead backed by UK votes. I hope that the Scottish Government will back such an approach. After all, the Scottish National Party representatives on the Smith commission sensibly endorsed that approach in signing the agreement.