The independence referendum was always going to loom large over this year’s Highland, and the opening salvoes were fired on Thursday.
They were from big guns, too, with Defra Secretary Owen Paterson taking the early initiative, followed later in the day by a thundering response from First Minister Alex Salmond.
The battleground was not over CAP or the EU, as might have been expected, but over exports of food and drink.
When asked at a press briefing whether Scottish exports would fare better under an independent Scottish government rather than a UK government, Mr Paterson said he couldn’t speak for what would happen hypothetically but he could say with certainty that exports of Scottish products would not have penetrated as many markets as they have without the back-up of UK embassies and diplomats.
“As an example I would give you the progress made in Russia. That would not have happened without the involvement of skilled UK diplomats.
“It is really important to realise that we have 267 embassies around the world. We have started negotiations to get Scottish beef and lamb into China. Scotch whisky is already there and is a wonderful export.
“The last time I was there I was able to negotiate the closing down of illegal stills.
“It is a hell of a risk to throw this away,” he added.
Mr Paterson is a well-known advocate of GM cropping. Asked about possible uncompetitiveness if England is allowed to grow GM crops while Scotland was not, Mr Paterson said it was a matter for the Scottish Government thanks to the flexibility negotiated.
“The new CAP in Scotland will be completely Scottish and GM cropping will be the same. Just as member states can accept an opt-out the Scottish Government can ask for an opt-out,” Mr Paterson said.
He also pointed out that Richard Lochhead had a whole new IT system to set up.
The last Labour government had made a “complete mess” of implementing the last CAP in England and he would not like to see the same thing happening in Scotland.
“Every time I see Richard I ask him to come down to the Rural Payment Agency to see our new system. I would love to help him in any way I can,” he added.
If Mr Paterson was attempting to be conciliatory his efforts fell on stony ground with Mr Salmond. Speaking in the Scottish Government pavilion later in the day he decried Mr Paterson’s views on exports as being “ridiculous”.
He had visited China himself, and hosted the Chinese premier in Edinburgh. “Before we made a deal, Scottish salmon sales were £50,000 a year and now they are £50 million. We will get on fine without Owen’s presence in China.”
Mr Salmond also claimed that had Scotland been independent during the recently completed CAP negotiations the country would have been the beneficiary of a “Euro billion jackpot”.
“The UK Government condemned Scotland to the lowest payments in Europe,” the First Minister thundered.
He calculated that had Scotland reached the EU average payment it would have been 1bn euros better off but if as an independent country it had secured a deal as good as Ireland the bonus would have been 3bn euros.