SCOTTISH Brexit minister Mike Russell has slammed the Tory agriculture minister Andrea Leadsom, after she described a meeting between the two governments as “constructive”.
The meeting, Russell said, had “made the situation worse”.
Leadsom was meeting the Scottish Government’s Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing, and Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham and Minister, as well as Russell to discuss the impact of Brexit and Scotland’s agriculture. Russell told media afterwards that he and Cunningham had tried to discuss devolved powers after Brexit.
“That is to take the powers that are held presently in Brussels and their repatriation to the proper destination. We got absolutely nowhere.
“I have made it crystal clear today that it will not be acceptable if those powers transferred to the UK Government rather than to the devolved administrations.
“If the woman responsible for these powers cannot or will not say what is going to happen, I regard that as unacceptable.
He added: “There was no movement today. There was no information today ... I think Andrea Leadsom made the situation worse today rather than better.”
Ewing said he asked questions on the continuation of agricultural subsidies and EU funding, but got no “satisfactory” answers and warned the future of the rural economy is at stake.
He said: “These questions have to be answered some time and the UK Government is starting to look rather foolish and negligent by failing to come up with the answers.
“We’re talking about shrinking the rural economy.
“If we can’t resolve these questions and maintain the financial support, then there will be substantial shrinkage of the rural economy.
“Firstly, we will lose people who work there, secondly we face tariffs, thirdly we face the loss of possible financial support and fourthly we face the loss of the EU market which takes about 40 per cent of our food.”
In a statement after the meeting, Leadsom said: “We are working with all devolved administrations to leave the EU. Today’s meeting was part of this on-going dialogue.
“Discussions were constructive and work goes on to secure the very best deal that delivers for all parts of the UK”
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has called on the UK Government to reveal exactly how much they spent appealing the Brexit case in the Supreme court.
That call came as hapless Tory backbencher Maurice Golden attacked the Scottish Government at First Minister’s Questions, for spending £136,000 on legal fees in case.
“This Scottish National Party Government will say and do literally anything that it thinks will further its goal of tearing our Union apart,” Golden squealed, as fellow Tories buried their heads in their hands.
“We always know when Ruth Davidson is completely embarrassed by one of her back benchers,” the First Minister said, “because she starts having a completely separate conversation on the front bench”.
She added: “This point seems to have completely escaped Maurice Golden — there would have been no case at the Supreme Court for the Scottish Government to have to intervene in if the Tories had not insisted on appealing the case every step of the way to the Supreme Court, even though everyone knew that they were going to lose.
“As I said earlier, it might be more appropriate for Maurice Golden to ask his Tory colleagues at Westminster how much they spent on the case, because so far they are refusing to say what the legal costs of the case have been for the Westminster Government.”
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