Two Scottish ministers have called for more help for the whisky industry from the UK Government.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has pushed for Brexit-related export issues to be resolved as a matter of urgency in a letter to Rural Affairs Secretary George Eustice.
The whisky industry has faced disruption due to Covid-19, Brexit and tariffs imposed by the US following a dispute with the EU.
READ MORE: The full list of 2020 winners of the Scottish Whisky Awards
Mr Ewing said: “It’s been a particularly difficult year for Scotland’s food and drink sector.
A once booming whisky industry has seen overseas exports drop by 23% in the last year alone.
“The whisky industry was already reeling from the triple threat of US import tariffs, the coronavirus pandemic slowing global demand, and a complicated alcohol duty system before Brexit compounded matters.
“Like many food and drink businesses, the sector is struggling with complicated bureaucracy post-Brexit and it is vital that such issues are resolved as soon as possible.
“I have written to the UK Government urging them to address the problems and will do my utmost to help one of Scotland’s greatest food and drink success stories get through this challenging time.”
READ MORE: Scotland's biggest whisky festival to hold virtual event in Spring
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has also pushed for changes to be announced in the upcoming budget in a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, such as reforms to the alcohol duty system paid on exports.
A UK Government spokeswoman said: “Scotch whisky is world-renowned, and we are working closely with the industry to help them take advantage of new export markets.
“The UK Government promotes the Scotch whisky through the Food is Great campaign.
“Last year, we announced £1 million dedicated to showcasing Scottish food and drink exports around the world.
“We are confident the sector is well-positioned to benefit from the expansive trade deals that we are now striking.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here