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Donate to our crowdfunderEmma Harper: I understand that the standing council recently considered the impact of Brexit on human rights and social protections. Does the minister agree that, as legislation in those areas is reserved, there is a very real risk that advances that have been made in those areas could be threatened?
Emma Harper: ...interests of Scotland’s rural economy following the EU referendum. I represent South Scotland, where farming and food and drink—two of the sectors that are most likely to be impacted by Tory Brexit—play a vital role in providing employment and maintaining economic stability. Dumfries and Galloway has nearly a quarter of Scotland’s kye—more than any other region in Scotland—and...
Emma Harper: Brexit has not actually happened yet—everybody really needs to pay attention to that. The Bank of Scotland continues to look at information and it will have more next year. However, the issue depends on what happens in future. It is likely that export health certificates for products, which cost around £300 per consignment, will be required for all trade with the EU in meat, fish and dairy...
Emma Harper: ...livelihoods of real people—my constituents—depend on that scheme. Even by the standards of those on the Tory seats, it is patently ridiculous for them to demand that the SNP clean up the Tory Brexit mess when it was created by them and their Westminster colleagues. However, I know that the Scottish Government will do its utmost to mitigate the damaging effects of this muckle-sized...
Emma Harper: ...for the Prime Minister to set a timescale, what is the First Minister’s best bet on how long it will take the United Kingdom Government to come up with a plan or any substantial notion of what Brexit really means?
Emma Harper: ..., including voting in 2012 and 2016 against setting a target on reducing carbon emissions. Ms Leadsom was a devout supporter of the vote leave campaign and is joined in the Cabinet by several other Brexiteers. The link between climate change deniers and Eurosceptics became clear during the EU referendum campaign. In February, it was revealed that the climate-change-denying think tank the...
Emma Harper: ...and stakeholders. Research that was conducted by Scottish Renewables before the EU referendum suggested that investors were already less willing to lend to wind farm projects. The reality of Brexit is that it puts significant investment and jobs at risk—many of which could be located in my region. The best way forward for us is to maintain—by whatever means necessary—Scotland’s...
Emma Harper: ...the best way to protect the interests of my constituents, and the rural economy, is to maintain that membership. I have spoken to several farmers and dairymen who tell me that the threat of a hard Brexit is very likely to damage their business. They tell me that although subsidy is important and it supports and allows for new ventures and improvements, trade is the key. Trade is the...
Emma Harper: ...the reclassification of the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics—or NUTS—2 designation and the prospect of unlocking greater European structural funding, only to be confronted with Brexit. The issues of depopulation, demographics, fuel poverty and connectivity that have been highlighted this afternoon are very much issues that we have in common with our island communities....
Emma Harper: ...outline what the reaction to it has been? Does she agree that it is disgraceful that, six months on from the vote, the UK Government has produced nothing but meaningless soundbites on its plan for Brexit?
Emma Harper: ..., and it is time that the Westminster Government acknowledged not only that but the inevitable impact of the removal of that money. Tuesday’s announcement by Theresa May was devastating. The hard Brexit for which we are now headed will be especially cruel to our rural communities as it represents a two-pronged attack that will strip them of EU funding while in effect denying the...
Emma Harper: Thank you. That is the reality of Brexit. There is no doubt that our exit from the EU and the loss of funding opportunities will hinder our efforts to create a sustainable future for Scotland. However, the EU referendum result does not reduce our desire to protect Scotland and the rural economy. The Scottish National Party Government will exhaust every avenue to create conditions under which...
Emma Harper: ...to hear the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, who was speaking ahead of the House of Commons debate on the UK Government’s article 50 bill today, describe a hard Brexit for the UK as a foregone conclusion or, to use his words, “a point of no return already passed.” Does the minister agree that such comments fly in the face of previous assurances by the...
Emma Harper: ...the CAP and the loss of membership of the single market. However, the SNP Government will focus on protecting Scottish farmers post-2020. The involvement of representatives from around the UK at Brexit talks is crucial. Today, the newly appointed UK rural affairs secretary, Michael Gove, was due to chair the EU transition forum, at which UK farming ministers discuss the future for the...
Emma Harper: ...should expect to access almost all their funding from November, which will bring some stability in what is an uncertain future. Will the cabinet secretary expand on whether the ambiguity around Brexit and the potential threat that it poses to Scotland’s farmers and rural communities helped to prompt that action from the Scottish Government?
Emma Harper: ...McCornick recently on this matter and he told me that the NFUS considers those agricultural workers to be competent and skilled, with which I agree. As we face the hard and worrying realities of Brexit, we must do everything possible to support our rural industries to become more sustainable and resilient, which is exactly what I plan to do as we work towards achieving the Government’s...
Emma Harper: ...out of the EU has very real implications for the industry, which I will discuss. The EU is the largest overseas market for Scotland’s seafood exports. The UK Government’s pursuit of a hard Brexit will likely create huge barriers to trade with vital European markets. In the south of Scotland, fishing is a key industry. The region’s harbours and many directly related onshore jobs...
Emma Harper: ...week, leaked draft plans for the Irish border showed that British and Irish officials had agreed proposals that would, in effect, keep Northern Ireland in the single market and customs union after Brexit by retaining EU regulations. If one part of the UK can retain regulatory alignment with the EU and, in effect, stay in the single market, there is surely no good practical reason why...
Emma Harper: Does the cabinet secretary agree that one of the biggest threats to environmental protection throughout Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole is Brexit and the UK Government’s failure to meet the ambition of the Scottish Government and other European Union member states? [ Interruption .]
Emma Harper: ..., Scottish wild salmon and Scottish farmed salmon, to name just a few. We have already heard from elsewhere that the United States is pressuring the UK to drop geographical name protections after Brexit in order to allow supermarkets to import cheap American imitations. That is not just a problem for Scotland. I am sure that the people of Cornwall do not want cheap imitation pasties that...