Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2026 [Draft]
I thank the minister for taking the time to meet me and trying to find compromise. Sometimes that is not possible, but he tried very hard on this, and for that I am grateful.
In relation to common grazings, I am sad that we have not resolved the issue of what are often called slipper crofters. There are real issues where crofters have moved away and sold their shares in the common grazings to people who are no longer part of the crofting community.
I lodged my amendments 48 to 50 to encourage ministers to commit to a review of the operation of common grazings. I wanted such a consultation to be undertaken within three years; the minister wanted the time period to be much longer, although no figure was put on that; and he has compromised by making it five years, which is fair.
The reason that I was pushing for such a review is that 1,078 common grazings in Scotland, which cover more than 500,000 hectares, are recorded in the register of crofts. Of those, only 461—fewer than half—have common grazing committees in place.
Considering the amount of land involved, and the significance of crofting in reaching net zero, which will be a high priority for the next Parliament, it is important that we utilise common grazings and that crofters benefit from them, to the extent that they can, and that the country benefits from them, too.
I will say no more, except that I will not move amendment 48 or amendment 49, and that I would appreciate the support of the Government on amendment 50.