Scottish minister calls for funding clarification in letter to PM

Scottish rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon has written to prime minister Rishi Sunak seeking further clarification on funding announcements made during the Farm to Fork Summit that took place at Downing Street last week.

In an open letter to the PM, Ms Gougeon criticises the government for excluding Scottish ministers from the summit and, while welcoming the intention, questions Mr Sunak’s plans for protecting UK standards in future agricultural trade deals.

With the Australia and New Zealand trade deals already completed, the letter says the new commitment has “come a little too late in the day” and shows that “earlier trade deals were poorly negotiated by the UK government”.

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Ms Gougeon said: “It is vital… that we receive some more information about any funding announcements described in your letter, to enable us to gauge the sufficiency, extent and implications of those announcements for the sector and to understand how these apply to Scottish agri-food producers.”

She also called into question the nature of the money that is to be allocated, asking whether it is “new money”. She added: “Scotland would clearly want to see its fair share if it is.”

Despite being excluded from initial talks, Ms Gougeon is still adamant that Scottish ministers should be able to discuss the details of the announcement with UK ministers.

She said: ”I am not convinced these announcements will go far enough to mitigate the ongoing short- and long-term significant effects on the sector, including from labour and skills shortages and high input costs, including energy costs.”