Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Plea for access to emergency funding for UK producers

The collapse of the out-of-home drinks market is having an impact on the dairy sectors.
The collapse of the out-of-home drinks market is having an impact on the dairy sectors.

The Scottish Government has called on Westminster to ensure any emergency funding the EU makes to member states during the Covid-19 crisis will also apply to UK producers.

In a letter to Defra secretary George Eustice, Scotland’s rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said if the UK Government cannot, or chooses not to, access such funding it should provide the devolved administrations with equivalent funds.

He stated: “I seek your commitment to making use of any current or new emergency measures that arise from the European Commission under the Common Market Organisation Regulations during the transition period and that funding for such measures would be continued at the end of this period as required.”

The dairy and red meat sectors have already come under pressure as a result of disrupted markets , leading Mr Ewing to insist all major retailers should help the cash flows of small suppliers by making immediate payments.

He added: “I have welcomed the sharing of information between our officials and ourselves on many common issues that are now starting to impact specific sectors. Impacts such as the absolute collapse the out-of -home drinks market is having on all our dairy sectors and the issue of achieving carcase balance in our beef and sheep sectors whilst prices are starting to fall.

“Similar difficulties are of course being experienced across all agricultural sectors, affecting both processors and primary producers, who I must commend for rising to the occasion to keep our nations supplied at this time.”

Mr Ewing welcomed the decision of all red meat levy bodies to launch a national marketing campaign to help encourage sales and called on Mr Eustice to give Defra’s approval to the plan.

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk