Scotland’s new farm minister, Fergus Ewing, has pledged to continue the fight to secure a fairer share of the red meat levy for Scotland.
Addressing today’s farm industry breakfast at the Royal Highland Show, near Edinburgh, Mr Ewing (pictured above) announced that he had just written to Defra Minister, George Eustice, urging him to bring forward legislation to give Scotland a fairer share of the levy.
According to current figures from Quality Meat Scotland, £1.5 million of levy income, collected on Scottish livestock which are slaughtered in England, is being lost each year by the Scottish industry.
“An extra £1.5m a year could contribute much to boosting markets and incomes,” said Mr Ewing, adding that he was fully committed to pressing the Scottish case on the matter.
“This issue has been around for a long time, of course, and I’ve told Mr Eustice that I want to work with him to achieve a solution, sooner rather than later, to what amounts to Scotland being short-changed.”