Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin has urged the UK government to involve Scottish agriculture and the Scottish government on trade decisions affecting the sector. Ms Martin raised her concerns in the parliament last week regarding the lack of a statutory requirement in UK bills to seek the consent of Scottish ministers when legislating in devolved areas, the lack of opportunity for Scottish Parliament committee scrutiny and the inability to make recommendations in relation to such decisions.
Ms Martin also discussed her concerns for seed potato growers, for whom she said the withdrawal from the EU has had disastrous consequences as the ongoing post-Brexit ban on selling seed potatoes to the valuable EU market continues to disadvantage Scottish growers.
In a debate on the impact of Brexit on devolution, she claimed that the significant prohibitions on Scottish seed potatoes going to the EU created a vacuum, where Scottish growers have lost massively, despite Scottish seeds conforming to the same grades and disease tolerances that the EU demands.
Source: grampianonline.co.uk