MSP'S SUCCESSFUL CALL FOR A FULLY DEVOLVED AGRICULTURE BUDGET (Jim Hume)

MSP'S SUCCESSFUL CALL FOR A FULLY DEVOLVED AGRICULTURE BUDGET

October 1, 2008 12:00 AM

Jim Hume, Liberal Democrat MSP for the South of Scotland and Deputy Spokesman for Rural Affairs, today successfully called upon the Scottish Government to press the case at Westminster for a fully devolved agriculture budget.

The MSP's call came as part of a debate on the Scudamore Report into the Scottish Government's handling of the foot and mouth disease outbreak last year during which the Liberal Democrat amendment passed successfully.

Jim Hume said:

"No-one would wish to see a repeat of what happened in 2001, especially in my South Region. I was at the coalface of it then both as a hill farmer and through my NFUS work.

"The distress and economic impact, both directly and indirectly, in both circumstances cannot be underestimated; never mind the animal welfare implications and the large effect these outbreaks have had in the decline of sheep and cattle in Scotland. We therefore need to create a workable system of protection for Scotland's flocks and herds which will safeguard a future for our livestock producers both through healthy markets at home; within the EU and international markets.

The MSP continued:

"Agriculture is devolved and we therefore have full policy control of animal health and welfare as part of that, yet funding for those policies is controlled by DEFRA. If policy responsibility is fully devolved to the Scottish Government it is only logical that the budgets to deliver that policy should also be completely devolved to the Scottish Government, including funds necessary to control major outbreaks of disease, it is an anomaly of the Scotland Act.

"The Scottish Parliament passed the Liberal Democrat amendment and I sincerely hope that the Scottish Government will now negotiate strongly with Westminster for a devolved budget but importantly, with an emphasis on still having access to the separate UK Treasury reserve when and if needed. These negotiations should not only result in a devolved budget, but critically also a budget proportionate to the importance of agriculture to the broader economy of Scotland."

ENDS

Note to editors

A copy of the motion debated is shown below:-

That the Parliament supports the Scudamore report's conclusions on Scotland's handling of the 2007 foot and mouth disease outbreak, contained in Foot and Mouth Disease Review (Scotland) 2007, and welcomes the Scottish Government's commitment to take the recommendations forward, including consideration of any potential opportunities for regionalisation and other steps to minimise the potential future disruption to the Scottish livestock industry.

A copy of the Liberal Democrat amendment is shown below:-

As an amendment to motion (S3M-2635) in the name of Richard Lochhead, insert at end "believes that, although the devolution settlement has largely been a success for Scottish agriculture, the current position whereby Scotland decides on animal health policy but has no control over its funding is an anomaly of the Scotland Act 1998, which is detrimental to relationships between the two administrations, and calls on the Scottish Government to press the case for devolving a proportionate share of the animal health budget currently held at Westminster to Scotland, while preserving the right to access the UK Treasury reserve fund."