SCOTTISH farmers and fishermen are being left in the dark about what happens after Brexit through the “unconscionable” neglect of the UK government, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister said UK ministers were still unable to say whether the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would end immediately in March 2019.
She said there was confusion at the top of government whether the regimes would end at Brexit, or continue and evolve through a more lengthy transition period of several years.
The upshot was that fishermen did not what they would be able to catch and where, and farmers did not what subsidies would be available to support them.
In response to a question on the issue from Labour’s Rhoda Grant, Ms Sturgeon said the SNP government would do all it could to support farmers and fisherman after Brexit.
She said: “However, right now, it is the UK Government that requires to provide that clarity.
“We do not even know right now whether the UK’s membership of the CAP and CFP will continue during any transitional period or whether the UK will exit them at the point of Brexit.”
She said UK government ministers had recently made contradictory statements on the issue.
She added: “It is unconscionable that our farmers and fishermen, who, as [Ms Grant] said rely on EU subsidies, still have no clarity whatsoever.
“I hope that everyone across the chamber will join us in putting pressure on the UK Government to resolve the situation and give the clarity that is so urgently needed.”
The Scottish Government will today push the UK for a voice in the annual fisheries negotiations in Brussels next month.
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