The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has said he would vote against allowing UK imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef from the US in a post-Brexit trade deal. Ross said the UK government was listening to complaints from the National Farmers Union (NFU), which has a strong presence in his rural constituency of Moray and fears a US trade deal would threaten food standards. He said ministers in London also needed to refine their proposals on common rules for the UK’s “internal market” after the country leaves the EU single market next year. They want a mutual recognition scheme, under which quality standards in one part of the UK would automatically be accepted by all four governments.
The Scottish and Welsh governments, backed by NFU Scotland and other business organisations, say that would force devolved parliaments to accept lower quality goods that breach their quality standards, potentially including US chicken and beef. Ross said the UK could not force the US to change its food quality laws in any trade deal, but “what we can do is to say we would not allow hormone-injected beef or chlorinated raw chicken in. Our standards can be as high as they’ve always been.” Asked if he would vote against allowing those products into the UK, he said: “Absolutely. We would need legislation … I would be in no doubt and have no hesitation in voting against any legislation which would allow those products into this country. That’s a categorical assurance.” Westminster had never voted to lower the UK’s food quality and safety standards and would automatically adopt all the EU regulations when the post-Brexit transitional arrangements end in January next year, he said.
Holyrood will also acquire more than 100 new powers from the EU when the transition period ends, but ministers were still taking account of vociferous complaints about the problems with the UK government’s internal market plans, he said. “The NFU wants more reassurance on the common framework and there’s more work to be done on that,” he said. “There would be no point having the consultation if the government was just going to forge on ahead and pay no attention to what has been said. “The crucial point is that, and I reiterate it because it’s worth 545,000 jobs for Scotland, we have to have this legislation in place to protect the internal market because the alternative is the SNP leave the internal market [by seeking independence] and that would be catastrophic for our economy, for jobs in Scotland and for our businesses.” The Scottish Tories will publish plans on Monday for a programme of major infrastructure projects run jointly by the UK and Scottish governments, upgrading motorways and building new towns and industrial hubs. Ross said one proposal was to establish permanent “job security councils” in Scotland of the kind used in Sweden since the 1970s. Based on specific industries, they specialise in coaching and supporting unemployed workers. In Sweden, 90% of the unemployed return to work within a year. If they succeeded in Scotland, he said, they could be rolled out across the UK. Appointed Scottish Tory leader after Jackson Carlaw resigned suddenly on 30 July, Ross defended his plan to remain MP for Moray if he wins a Scottish parliament seat in Holyrood elections in May next year. He also plans to continue working as an assistant football referee, as well as having a young family. “My number one priority is delivering for the people of Scotland. I’m 100% committed to that,” he said. “There’s clear precedence for this. [From May 2007 to April 2010] Alex Salmond was able to be a husband, an MP, an MSP, leader of the Scottish National party and first minister of Scotland. He was able to do all of those things.”