This week I opened for Labour during the Liberal Democrat debate on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Reform.

There is widespread agreement that CAP reform is necessary to ensure a fairer distribution among EU members and for more focus on the environmental challenges faced across Europe. As the CAP budget is nearly 40% of the total EU budget this is an important debate and it is essential that there is public confidence and transparency that the benefit from CAP is being felt by all.

In Scotland CAP payments can vary drastically across regions. In East Lothian the average payment is over €125,000 whilst Highland receives an average of just over €34 per hector. During the debate I asked the Cabinet Secretary if he would “deliver the degree of redistribution that he argues for across the EU and within the UK, provide increased support to farming in disadvantaged areas, and ensure a level playing field for new entrants.”

My amendment to the debate highlighted that it was important to support new entrants into farming and crofting and ensure they know where they stand with regards to the CAP. Currently new entrants get a raw deal, failing to get the support other farms get. With the challenges they have to face in entering farming it is important that clarity is given to those wishing to enter farming on the timescales for reform and on the support that would be available.

Another issue I raised was around the Irish tunnel subsidy payment system. Whilst there is support from NFUS and the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations I urged caution as the reform will be slow and will result in some who are in need of support having to wait longer than others to receive it.

Once again we heard from the Government the claim that we would see an increase in CAP funds from separation. The reality is that we continually see the terms of Scotland’s automatic EU membership, as claimed by the SNP, questioned. The majority opinion indicates that at best a separate Scotland would have to negotiate many treaties before being allowed to join and that will probably include the CAP payments.

With a likely reduction in the EU budget and more pressure being placed on it, examples show that new member states, including those who joined in 2007, having payments phased in gradually. This would be disastrous for Scottish farming and the SNP can give no guarantees on the future of farmers within the EU in a separate Scotland.

Below you can find a video of the CAP refrom debate along with a copy of my speech moving our motion.

Taken from the Scottish Parliament Official Report:

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): I am pleased to be speaking in this debate.

There is widespread agreement that reform of the CAP is necessary. There must be greater fairness in distribution among European Union members; we need to recognise the environmental challenges that Europe faces; and we need to deliver public confidence and respond to the priorities of a changing world. The CAP budget is nearly 40 per cent of the total EU budget, and there must be greater public confidence and transparency in its use and priorities. With 85 per cent of Scotland’s farmed area designated as disadvantaged and less favoured, reform needs to recognise those challenges. I hope that the UK Government and the Scottish Government can work together positively on those matters. It needs to be recognised that farming in more remote and disadvantaged areas brings multiple benefits to communities.

We can agree that there needs to be a fairer distribution of support throughout the EU and within the UK, and not just for Scotland. The accession countries receive small pillar 1 payments, and agriculture is at the very centre of the economies of many of them. It employs many people, and those countries also deserve a fairer distribution.

Towards the end of the process, decisions will need to be made about how Scotland will distribute its payments in the move from historic to area payments. We have sharp contrasts in Scotland. The average payment in East Lothian is over €125,000, while Highland receives an average of just over €34 per hectare. Therefore, there is an opportunity for the cabinet secretary to deliver the degree of redistribution that he argues for across the EU and within the UK, provide increased support to farming in disadvantaged areas, and ensure a level playing field for new entrants.

The Scottish Government’s amendment argues for CAP spending to be rectified in order to address the needs of rural Scotland. Will the cabinet secretary take the same approach when he makes allocation decisions relating to Scotland’s direct payments?

Whatever decision is made on area payments, there needs to be greater transparency in the proposals as well as an opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny and engagement. The Government amendment says that more will be revealed on 17 April. Meanwhile, the Welsh Assembly Government, which is facing similar decisions, has been open about the changes that are being proposed. It even has a website that anyone can go to and do the sums. That is quite a contrast with the Scottish Government’s approach. It is inevitable that there will be winners and losers in the process, and farmers and crofters need to be able to begin planning for the changes.

Our amendment highlights the need to be clear about new entrants to farming and crofting and where they stand. New entrants currently get a raw deal from the CAP. While recognising that they get pots of money from the Scotland rural development programme and other targeted payments, they rightly ask why, when they are productive and growing new businesses, they do not get the support that other farms get. New entrants face lots of challenges in entering farming: financial barriers, rising land prices and lack of tenancies and starter units. The reform of the CAP must deliver for new entrants if we are to see a secure future for farming in Scotland. Greater clarity is needed on the timescales for reform and the support that will be available.

NFU Scotland and the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations—COPA—have signed a declaration in support of the Irish tunnel subsidy payment system. However, I think that we should be cautious about that approach, because it will slow reform and, although it will cushion change for some, it will mean that others who are in need of support will have to wait longer. For example, a farmer from Grampian recently tweeted me to say that it will mean that he will have to wait until 2025 for a level playing field. As Tavish Scott said, it would be helpful to know the cabinet secretary’s view on that.

I am short of time, but I want to address the Conservative amendment. We support the principle of convergence and the need for a fairer allocation within the UK, but I am concerned that the amendment is too prescriptive and does not address the issues around production and disadvantage. An average per hectare payment masks quite a lot of inconsistencies in Scotland, as the earlier East Lothian and Highland example illustrated. However, I will listen to Alex Fergusson’s speech with interest.

We hear again from the Government the assertion that we would see significant additional CAP funds from independence. During a debate in January last year before he became a minister, Paul Wheelhouse claimed that

“when Scotland becomes independent, the full economic benefit of convergence between member states will be delivered to Scotland automatically.”—[Official Report, 18 January 2012; c 5396.]

However, we increasingly see the terms of Scotland’s EU membership being questioned: the SNP claimed that it would be automatic, but it now acknowledges the need for negotiations.
Richard Lochhead: Will the member take an intervention?
Claire Baker: I am sorry, but I am just closing.

What could be more open to negotiation than CAP payments? We see a reducing budget with more pressures being placed on it. Recent examples show that new member states, including those that joined in 2007, have had direct payments phased in gradually. That would be disastrous for Scottish farming, and the SNP can give no guarantees on the future of farmers within the EU.

I move amendment S4M-05898.2, after “substantial changes” to insert:

“and that new entrants into farming and crofting can be clear on what support will be available to them”.