ALISTER Jack has admitted that “not everything has been smooth” as Scotland deals with the impacts of leaving the European Union.
The UK's Scotland Secretary was speaking to the Scottish Tory conference earlier today where he talked up the benefits of Brexit following the release of figures that show a dramatic drop in Scots food and drink exports to the EU.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Scots exports to the EU in January 2021 were down 63% on the previous year, while Scotland’s largest food export category, fish and shellfish, dropped dramatically by 83%.
ONS data also showed that UK exports as a whole dropped 41% in January, compared to December 2020, when the UK was still part of the world's largest trading bloc. Imports dropped by 29%.
READ MORE: New figures reveal Brexit's 'grim' damage to Scotland's food and drink sector
In his conference speech, Jack, the MP for Dumfries and Galloway, said: "An undertaking on this scale was always going to have snags and the seafood industry has suffered.
"We addressed that with a £23 million support fund and a dedicated taskforce to untangle the knots of EU red tape.
"Meanwhile, a further £100m has been earmarked for the seafood sector to help it maximise the opportunities now we are free of the dead hand of the Common Fisheries Policy.
"Food and drink producers and our agriculture sector are also poised to take advantage of opportunities on new horizons."
However, this blue-sky thinking by the Tory MP has previously been dismissed by Scotland Food and Drink's chief executive, James Withers (below), who said earlier this week that post-Brexit trade barriers are "real and costly".
In response to the ONS data release for Scotland's exports, Withers said: “The financial damage to our seafood industry is particularly stark. A fall of over 80% in what is the UK’s biggest food export has brought a crisis to a sector reeling from the worst trading year in memory. You can’t stockpile fresh fish and shellfish, so that has not been a factor at all in these figures.”
He added: "The so-called teething problems still with us and have cost the industry tens of millions so far.
"This has to act as a catalyst to open negotiations with the EU to recognise aligned food standards and reduce the red tape burden. Without that, these trade figures will never recover to anything like the levels before.”
Throughout his speech, Jack took aim at the SNP and focused on a "claim" by the party's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, that indyref2 could be delivered this year.
Jack left out that Blackford also said the Scottish Government's first priority was the coronavirus pandemic.
Jack said: "It is chilling that with the monumental task of recuperating from a pandemic still ahead, supposedly serious politicians can spend even a moment contemplating the reckless folly of another referendum."
READ MORE: Boris Johnson says only Tories can stop SNP majority and indyref2 amid Labour attack
In response to claims the SNP are prioritising a referendum over the Covid crisis, Scotland's Constitution Secretary Michael Russell MSP said: “No one is proposing holding an independence referendum now, but if the people back a post-pandemic referendum in the coming election then democracy must prevail."
Russell challenged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to make his position "crystal clear" on whether Scotland has the democratic right to choose independence in a "post-pandemic referendum" should the SNP deliver a pro-independence majority in May's Holyrood election.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel