6. To ask the Scottish Government when it last engaged with the United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and other relevant UK Government departments regarding the provision of future agricultural funding for Scotland. (S6O-02803)

T he Scottish Government has regularly pressed the case that rural Scotland has been short-changed as a result of Brexit and that the United Kingdom Government must ensure certainty around rural funding for the future and give Scotland an equitable share of available funds that meet our needs and interests.

Mairi Gougeon wrote to the new Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Barclay, this past week. She also raised the issue at interministerial group meetings with the previous secretary of state, and our Deputy First Minister raised it with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in June this year.

The Tories cannot be silent on the scandal that is leaving our farmers in the dark over future funding. They are complicit in Westminster’s treatment of the sector with utter contempt, while at the same time they cast themselves as champions of Scottish agriculture without any credibility.

Farming is a long-term endeavour, and people need clarity now to plan for the future. Has there been any indication that the new DEFRA Secretary of State understands those concerns? Does the Minister know whether Labour is promising anything different?

Agriculture is devolved, and it is crucial that Scottish Government policies are unhindered by any threats that are posed by the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, the subsidy control regime and the lack of long-term replacement European Union funding.

We have not yet received any response from the new Secretary of State at DEFRA, Steve Barclay, on Ms Gougeon’s recent letter to him, in which she stressed that we need to work together closely on the certainty of future agricultural funding. We continue to raise the issue regularly and urgently with the UK Government. We will, of course, also do so with any Labour colleagues who might be looking to be in the Government after this one.

The Scottish National Party-Green Government’s disdain for our farmers and crofters is all too clear to see. One columnist even described Mairi Gougeon’s approach as something that one would see at the “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” in “Alice in Wonderland”.

It is little wonder that one of the rabbits that was pulled out of the hat last week in Shona Robison’s budget statement was the slashing of £28 million from the agricultural budget. Further, £61 million of agricultural funds that were allocated to the SNP by the UK Treasury have gone missing over the past two years. Where has the money gone and when will it be returned?

I say to Rachael Hamilton that the most pressing issue for farmers—certainly in my Constituency—is the long-term certainty of funding. His Majesty’s Treasury has provided yearly allocations for the current UK parliamentary session, but there is no funding commitment for 2025.

Where is the money?

I will continue my answer if I can do so without interruption.

That has direct implications for the management of current agricultural programmes, including the Scottish rural development programme and the work that is under way in the agricultural reform programme.

Agriculture requires future funding certainty due to its multi-annual funding commitments and long lead-in times for farmers, crofters and land managers—a fact that I am sure that Ms Hamilton is absolutely aware of.

O f course, it would be helpful if the Westminster Government gave some clarity, but it would be equally helpful if the Scottish Government did not cut £28 million from the agriculture budget. That is not providing any certainty for the farmers in my Constituency or in the Minister’s. When will she restore the money that has been cut; indeed, when will she restore the £61 million that should be in farmers’ pockets?

Willie Rennie’s point is probably for the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands to answer. I will refer his question to the cabinet secretary and I am sure that she will write to him with the detailed answer that he requires, giving assurances.

Sixty-one million pounds of ring-fenced money that was allocated to the Scottish Government by the United Kingdom Government has been withdrawn. The scale of the Scottish Government’s hypocrisy has no bounds. Does the Cabinet secretary—sorry, I mean the Minister, because the cabinet secretary is not here. Does the minister not share the anger of farmers and crofters right across Scotland about the fact that the Scottish Government is asking for money from the UK Government but, when the Scottish Government gets £61 million, it disappears? As a matter of urgency, will you find out when that £61 million will be returned to the agriculture budget?

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

We need to speak through the chair.

I will tell Finlay Carson one thing on which I absolutely share the anger of farmers in Scotland, and it refers back to the question that Jim Fairlie asked about how the hard Brexit has impacted on our farmers. We were assured that multiyear funding allocations would be given. [

Interruption

.]

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

Members!

That is the most pressing issue for farmers in Scotland.