UK Government minister gives assurance to Western Isles crofters and producers over food standards

During a visit to Stornoway this week, David Duguid, Parliamentary Under-secretary of State in the Scotland Office, dismissed claims standards would be lowered after the end of the Brexit transition period.

And he said there was no intention of imposing new standards on the devolved nations.

In an interview with the area’s Local Democracy Reporter, Mr Duguid, the MP for Banff and Buchan, responded to concerns raised by the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS) and the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF) over the potential impact of the government’s UK Internal Market proposals on devolution.

The proposals for the UK Internal Market, announced in July, set out to enshrine in law measures to protect the flow of goods and services across the UK, and include what the UK Government describes as principles of ‘mutual recognition’ and ‘non-discrimination’ across the four nations.

At the end of last week, Yvonne White, chair of the SCF, said that the UK Government’s white paper proposals were “incoherent” and that any loss of Scottish Government control over agricultural support would pose “an existential threat” to the hill livestock sector – “the backbone” of crofting.

Ms White said: “Having scrutinised this white paper at length, we cannot find evidence to support the need for this legislation.

“ The UK Internal Market is undoubtedly important, but so too is the need to maintain our present access to Europe for our high quality beef and lamb exports. The criteria for UK internal trade must be agreed by all four nations, and not be imposed on us.”

She added: “In common with other Scottish food producers, we fear that the proposed legislation will lead to a race to the bottom, threatening our high standards in food, environment and animal welfare, thus damaging the image of Scottish produce.”

Meanwhile, the NFUS has said that it recognises the economic importance of the UK’s internal market and supported moves to ensure the free movement of goods produced to the same standards, but the government proposals posed a “significant threat” to devolution and the power of the devolved administrations to act if any standards were lowered, giving the government a final say in areas of devolved policy.

When asked to defend the proposals, Mr Duguid said: “I know that is the story that is often told, but it is pretty far from the truth.

“One of the purposes behind the UK internal market legislation proposals is to bring back to what the UK had been doing for centuries, before we were in the EU.

“It’s about a United Kingdom-wide single market – for want of a better expression – and an internal market where the rules are at least equivalent such that somebody making a widget in the north of Scotland can sell that widget to somebody in the south of England, and vice-versa without having barriers put up to stop that from happening.”

In response to concerns that the UK internal market represented a threat to the powers of the devolved nations, Mr Duguid said: “The point of devolution, from my perspective, was that decisions were made at a local level where they mattered, at that local level.

“The whole point of devolution is that you don’t just have someone in London deciding what happens in the Western Isles or the north east of Scotland. You have local decisions made at a local level where they matter locally.

“In terms of the UK local market legislation proposals [they are] not a threat at all.

“The objective is to maintain a respect for the devolution settlement – in fact to enhance devolution wherever possible.

“In terms of the concerns raised by the crofters and the National Farmers Unions from across the UK – I am fully aware of the concerns around food standards.

“This is a topic that has been around since we started talking about free trade agreements with the US and other parts of the world.

“But, the UK government has said, time and time again, the Prime Minister, government ministers, and I’ll say it again today – we are committed to maintaining those high standards.

“I don’t know how often we have to say that before people will take us at our word, but that is what we intend to do.

“That’s not England saying that, I’m a Scottish MP, a minister in the Scotland Office in the UK Government, that is me making that commitment, not just to the UK as a whole, but to my father the beef farmer and to all food and drink producers across Scotland as well as across the UK.

“The key point of the UK internal market legislation is to make sure that no-one is put at an unfair, discriminatory disadvantage.”

The Junior Minister was then asked to confirm if the UK Government would impose new UK-wide rules on the devolved nations to get a deal done if a large country with economic power wanted a trade deal, but insisted that had to be UK-wide and that it would not meet the UK’s food and animal welfare standards.

Mr Duguid said: “The key to all this is that all four nations in the UK get together and design a system that works for everyone.

“This is not about Westminster imposing anything on anyone else, it’s about the UK internal market working as the UK internal market.

“Now, I understand that there are political entities who might complain that this goes against devolution, but actually I think it enhances devolution.

“Devolution is something that happens within the integrity of the United Kingdom.

“It is not about splitting apart different parts of the United Kingdom.

“It is about the United Kingdom working as a whole, and it is about the United Kingdom as a whole having that economic clout that you mentioned.

“So, when the United Kingdom is dealing with the US, the United Kingdom can say to the US, no, we are not going to accept your chlorinated chicken, we’re not going to accept your hormone treated beef, now let’s move on to the next topic.

“Whereas, if we start breaking apart the United Kingdom, or start interfering with the United Kingdom internal market in such a way that it makes us a less attractive place to have a market, then we lose that negotiating power.”

When asked if he would give a firm assurance to the SCF and the NFUS that there would not be Westminster-imposed regulations around lower food standards and public funding support for agriculture, the MP concluded: “Well, what I can say is that this government has absolutely no intention of lowering food standards.

“If an opposition party was to table a motion, for example, to lower food standards, or even if the governing party was to table that motion, I’d be hugely surprised if that was to pass through parliament, and that’s what it would take.

“So, chlorinated chicken, hormone treated beef, are currently illegal to produce or to import to this country.

“That is a rule that has been transferred across into UK law from EU law and as we come out of the transition period that will remain in UK law and it will remain as such unless someone was to change that law.

“I’m not going to propose a change to that law and I don’t know anyone in the UK government that would unless they wanted their political career to end pretty sharpish.”