The Scottish Government has called for farm subsidies to be made exempt from a Bill currently going through the UK parliament as part of the Brexit trade agreement.
The UK has agreed to put in place subsidy controls provided for in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), but Rural Affairs Secretary, Mairi Gougeon has warned that failing to exempt farming from the Bill risks constraining Scotland’s ability to develop any future policies that are tailored to national needs.
She has written to Defra Secretary George Eustice, questioning how the regime would work for schemes which deliver income payments and coupled support to farmers.
She says they would seem to be “incompatible with the principles of the Bill”.
However, Ms Gougeon argues that direct and coupled support ensure that Scottish farming businesses are economically viable.
She writes: “They provide essential support to remote and constrained rural communities, and as there is a significantly higher proportion of agricultural land in Scotland that is subject to such constraints compared to elsewhere in the UK, it is important that we retain the ability to provide this type of support for our agricultural businesses for the foreseeable future.”
Ms Gougeon proposes an amendment to the Subsidy Control Bill, which she says would address these concerns.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “Our new approach to subsidy control, including agriculture, will provide a single, coherent framework to protect competition and investment across all four nations of the UK, whilst also allowing local councils and the Scottish Government to design subsidies that are tailored and bespoke for local needs.”