Chamber and committees

Yes, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Sorry, but I completely disagree with the cabinet secretary on that. We are talking about the Bew money, which is £51 million—that is not new money. I cannot see the Government making a commitment to the national test programme.

I will leave it there, convener.

I want to pick up on Jim Fairlie’s point, because I was also interested in who was involved in the Subsidy Control Bill. It seems as though there is a statutory duty under section 53 of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 to consult devolved Governments. Therefore, unless Jim disagrees with that, it seems as though the UK Government invited the devolved Governments to make representations within that consultation, to which they received 234 responses.

Finally, I reiterate that the Climate Change Committee has said that there is no strategy in place to achieve emissions reductions and that your ambition is not deliverable. It is there in black and white. The agricultural transformation fund has been cut by 88.9 per cent. How are you going to deliver on your ambition when the funds that you have are not being allocated specifically to achieving it?

Jenni Minto mentioned Jonnie Hall’s evidence to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, which I followed with great interest. With regard to the Subsidy Control Bill and the Scottish Government’s policy choices, he said that international safeguards are already in place through WTO rules that would ensure that, if the Scottish Government decided that it wanted to keep direct payments, Scotland would not be at a competitive advantage. I just want to make that point.

Do you believe that you have the necessary powers to make regulations on food, for example? You have stated previously that you did not have such powers.

Okay. I will give you a helping hand by quoting what the Government has said:

“Without a power to keep pace with changes to EU law Scottish Ministers would lose the ability to introduce, amend or update secondary legislation on livestock matters in line with EU legislation.”

Bearing in mind that your goal is to keep pace with EU powers, that is what I am getting at.

Cabinet secretary, we have been told by numerous witnesses, including NFU Scotland representatives, that a seamless UK internal market is integral to Scottish farming. How will any changes that are made to domestic policy in a devolved context affect the integrity of the important agricultural market in Scotland?

Do you envisage any issues as a result of deciding to align with the EU on, say, a ban on glyphosate or of not wishing to progress with gene editing? Such decisions would mean that production costs for farmers in Berwickshire, for example, would be higher than those for farmers in Northumberland, in England. Will your decisions be a backward step that leaves Scotland’s farmers at a disadvantage?

You mentioned this in answer to a previous question, but I would like a bit more detail. What progress has been made in developing the common frameworks? Do you believe that the Scottish Government has the power to make regulations on food, for example?