WHITEFORD HIGHLIGHTS POSITIVE WELCOME FOR SNP AGRICULTURE SUPPORT PACKAGE

SNP Westminster candidate for Banff & Buchan Eilidh Whiteford today (Friday) welcomed the positive response that the announcement of the Scottish Government’s Agriculture Support Package has received from NFU Scotland, whose president Jim McLaren hailed the new measures as “a smart and strategic package”.

Commenting, Eilidh Whiteford said:

“The package that Richard Lochhead has announced contains some valuable measures to protect and support farming interests including the retention of the Scottish Beef Calf scheme, a 19% increase in LFASS payments for fragile and very fragile areas and no further top-slicing of the Single Farm Payment.

“All of these measures were the subject of lobbying by both the NFUS and individual farmers and the Scottish Government has clearly listened and responded to those representations.

“Agriculture is a vital industry for Banff & Buchan and has already seen more than its fair share of hard times. Indeed, it could be said that farmers were better prepared for the economic downturn than most through learning the hard way how to survive.

“The measures announced by the Cabinet Secretary will be welcomed by the industry as a whole as well as by NFUS and will be recognised as a real and ongoing commitment to the industry.”