Fergus Ewing: In the case of the coach sector and most other sectors, I would expect payments to be made following the application process that is being launched either this month or in February. I would expect payments to be made swiftly thereafter. Mr Scott raises an extremely important point. We must get this money out as quickly as possible. However, we must use public money carefully and avoid making...
Fergus Ewing: No substantive discussion on a compensation scheme for Scottish fishing communities has taken place, and it is simply unacceptable for the UK Government to launch such a scheme without consulting the Scottish Government. The deal that was reached with the EU demonstrated the UK Government’s profound lack of knowledge of, or concern for, Scottish seafood interests. The industry will rightly...
Fergus Ewing: On several occasions, in representing the Scottish Government at the EU exit operations committee, I have made it clear that the UK Government—having sought Brexit, delivered it in a cack-handed way and ignored the advice of the Scottish Government and of industry to seek a grace period—is now responsible, and solely so, for the losses that have arisen as a result of its failings. I have...
Fergus Ewing: The reduced prices and reduced availability of fish at market are, sadly, direct results of the Brexit boorach. I stress that my imperative—my number 1 priority—is to make sure that we in Scotland, working with local authorities, with Food Standards Scotland and with DFDS and other hubs, resolve the difficulties as far as is within our power. I have had detailed discussions, of course,...
Fergus Ewing: I am sorry that the Scottish Conservative representative is making that serious allegation, on which Mr Halcro Johnston has not provided me with a shred of evidence to back it up. It is quite astonishing that a member of this Parliament should make such allegations without checking the facts. The facts are that the Scottish Government was working flat-out in the run-up to Brexit and for years...
Fergus Ewing: I assure Beatrice Wishart that over the past five years—and especially during the past two years—Scottish Government officials and I have worked tirelessly to impress on UK colleagues just how important it was to be prepared for the disruption that Brexit would cause, with an estimated 150,000 export health certificates being required. We worked tirelessly and ceaselessly to prepare; now...
Fergus Ewing: Presiding Officer, 2020 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons and 24 December 2020 will be remembered as the day that the United Kingdom Government sold out Scottish fishing interests in the most egregious way. The outcome of the negotiations expose to all and sundry that the promises that were made to fishermen in Scotland, and indeed throughout the UK, have been broken. On 29...
Fergus Ewing: First, it would be churlish of me not to welcome Mr Halcro Johnston to his new responsibilities. We have already been working with all parties, including Food Standards Scotland, around the clock to do our best to ameliorate the problems that have arisen. Scotland Food & Drink and others representing all the major sectors of the industry sought a grace period of six months in which any...
Fergus Ewing: On Mr Smyth’s final question, I believe that the Prime Minister has promised to provide compensation. That compensation must be paid very quickly. This morning, I spoke to a business that said that, if the problems that there have been in the past two weeks are repeated, it might not be in business next week. That story could be repeated many times. Fishing vessels are now landing their...
Fergus Ewing: They are not my responsibility. The important thing is that we work to sort out the problems as best we can. I have been doing my best to do that. Later this afternoon, I will attend another meeting with Mr Gove to that end. Mr Stevenson referred to the deal that has been done, which has resulted in the loss of the hake preference and in extra quota of paper fish only—in other words, extra...
Fergus Ewing: The allegation about R100 is nonsense; the R100 commitments will be fulfilled by the Scottish Government, as Paul Wheelhouse made clear in the statement that he gave last August. I will answer the relevant questions that were posed—or those that were at least on topic. I have spoken to Food Standards Scotland several times during the past few weeks, and its staff are working around the...
Fergus Ewing: Yes, I do. It gives me absolutely no pleasure to say so, but we warned the UK Government about the risk of the new bureaucratic system, including the estimated 150,000 new certificates that would be required in combination with other necessary documentation—which is all entirely new and is all only necessary because of Brexit. I could not put the issue better than James Withers of Scotland...
Fergus Ewing: That is primarily the responsibility of my friend and colleague Roseanna Cunningham. For my part, we are beginning to implement remote electronic monitoring equipment. It is designed to improve sustainable fisheries and will be a tremendous advantage to fisheries, particularly those on the west coast, once it is implemented.
Fergus Ewing: It is not. The retaliatory clause in the agreement means that the EU can impose tariffs if it does not get what it wants in a fisheries deal at that end of that five-year period. It would be able to apply immediate sanctions to aquaculture, a sector that is entirely separate from the caught sector. The fact that such a clause, linking tariffs and trade to fisheries, was included in the deal...
Fergus Ewing: Ms Wishart makes a series of fair points, and I give an undertaking that we will do that.
Fergus Ewing: The inshore and shellfish sectors are important to many Scottish communities, including those that are represented by Emma Harper. We are doing all that we can to support them. The inshore sector was one of the first sectors in the UK to receive Covid compensation support, thanks to the diligence and efficiency of Marine Scotland. The six-month grace period that I alluded to would have...
Fergus Ewing: We must carefully consider the judgment that was made last week. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on a live legal process. We work closely with the majority of bodies that represent inshore fishing interests around our coasts. We have excellent relationships with almost all of them, and we have proceeded with pilots in accordance with the working arrangements that we have with...
Fergus Ewing: The promise of providing prioritisation and a fast track has not been implemented, and that is a matter of some sadness. I refer to my earlier answers that I personally want to see the present problems overcome rapidly. If they are not, the commercial damage—the loss and injury to businesses and people—will be on a simply enormous scale. However, those difficulties are unlikely to be...
Fergus Ewing: It is a fair question. The prawn sector has faced extreme difficulties, as I am sure Mr Scott is well aware. Therefore, I have set up a task force under Uel Morton to consider what we can do in practice to assist that sector, which even before Brexit was having considerable difficulties in marketing its produce. We have provided financial support, as I alluded earlier, but I fear that that,...
Fergus Ewing: If Mr Chapman is referring to the ability to do quota swaps, that is an ability that the industry has lost as a result of the trade agreement. There is still the possibility that coastal states can agree arrangements at Government level, but that is a poor substitute for the arrangements under which industry makes its own deals on a regular—indeed, day-to-day—basis. My officials tell me...