CHANGES proposed in the Retained EU Law Bill could be a “potential death sentence” for Scottish agriculture, the SNP have warned.
In the midst of a debate in the House of Commons, SNP MPs hit out at the limitations of the bill on Scottish agriculture.
SNP MP Brendan O’Hara said: “There is a genuine fear that this Retained EU Law Bill and the power that is conferred upon this place is a potential death sentence for the Scottish agricultural sector.”
He asked for guarantees that Scottish consumers would not be “unwittingly subjected to chlorine-washed chicken”, and warned it would “undermine the devolution settlement”.
O’Hara said: “Lowering food standards and the relaxation of rules around labelling and animal welfare, as well as a mass importation of inferior-quality products, will be an unmitigated disaster for Scottish agriculture. This bill is the starting whistle on a deregulatory race to the bottom.
“This is not a road that Scotland has chosen to go down, rather this a road that Scotland is being dragged down.
“If the new Prime Minister is serious about making a fresh start, about resetting relationships with Edinburgh and Brussels and the people of these islands, then abandoning this ill-judged piece of Ukip-ery would show that he’s serious.”
Labour warned that the bill gives too many unchecked powers to the UK Government and needs to be rethought.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry warned about those legal ramifications. The Edinburgh South West MP told the Commons: “This bill means that if ministers want retained EU law to fall away, they needn’t take any action at all. The decision to take no action is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
“That means that very important rights and protections could be lost, including the right to equal pay between men and women, a pivotal changing right in our society.”
Alba’s Westminster leader added that although Scotland is a “country”, according to the 1707 Act of Union, the act did not create one nation.
Neale Hanvey told the Commons: “Whilst I do respect the right of withdrawal from the EU, it just feels rather disingenuous to say the very least, that Scotland should be denied that right to withdraw from this union by the very people who embrace the withdrawal from the EU.
“And one of the second points I’d make in opening remarks is that a part of the agreement between the Kingdom of Scotland and England that led to the Treaty of Union was that any law change should be to the evident utility of the people of Scotland.
“And that is set in the Articles of Union and I see nothing in this legislation, that is for the evident utility of the people in my Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in Scotland.”
He added: “Well, the fact of the matter is that the 1707 Act of Union created one state but it did not create one nation. Scotland is a country. It has always maintained its identity as a country, even with the UN and from the Declaration of Arbroath to the Claim of Right is the people of Scotland who are sovereign and not a Parliament and not a regent.”
