Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy

William Wragg Excerpts

Tuesday 17th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Calum Kerr (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (SNP)]

I beg to move,

That this House is concerned at the possible impact upon the rural economy of the Government’s aim for the UK to leave the EU; and calls upon the Government to present to Parliament a clear statement of its aims for the rural economy in negotiations with the EU prior to triggering Article 50, and to give assurances on the future of agriculture, particularly with regard to funding, and fisheries after 2020.

We want to use this debate to consider the significant and tangible benefits that EU membership has afforded the Scottish rural community through funding, trade and freedom of movement. Those benefits must be acknowledged and the Government must offer, prior to the triggering of article 50, a clear statement on how they intend to mitigate the impact of leaving the EU on rural areas. They must do so now because the combined threat of the loss of direct funding, an end to tariff-free trading and the abolition of the free movement of people could have devastating consequences for rural communities throughout Scotland and, indeed, the rest of the UK.

The Prime Minister set out 12 points in her speech, but people in my constituency are not reassured, because it lacked detail and certainty. We are told that Brexit is about a more global Britain, and that the process will represent a clean break. Well, let me be absolutely clear in stating how far removed from reality that rhetoric is. Under the Government’s current direction of travel, Brexit will not be a clean break for the sheep farmers in my constituency, whose produce could face prohibitive tariffs and whose direct support payments could be wiped out.

Brexit will not be a clean break for the fish processors in Shetland—where in 2015 more fish was landed than in the entirety of England and Wales—whose access to the largest seafood market in the world is now under question. Nor will it be a clean break for the soft-fruit farmer in Angus when the plug is pulled on the seasonal labour that his business needs to function. It will not be a clean break for the most remote highland communities, which are now contemplating the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds of European regional development funding. We again find ourselves facing a combination of Tory indifference to the needs of the Scottish economy, and a dramatic democratic deficit.

[William Wragg (Hazel Grove) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman and his party are optimistic people and rays of sunshine in this House. Can he see any possible benefit to the Scottish rural economy from leaving the EU? I am thinking particularly of fisheries, the European policy for which decimated the Scottish fishing industry.

[Calum Kerr]

If the hon. Gentleman spends a little more time with us, he will find that we are optimists at heart, but this debate is about the realities and the implications for the rural economy. I will, with great delight, return to fisheries later in my speech.