Perthshire North MSP, Mr John Swinney, has today warned of cuts to vital funding in the wake of the UK leaving the European Union.
A new publicly accessible database has laid bare the financial impact that leaving the EU will have on areas around the UK, with Perthshire and surrounding areas facing losses to funding of over £53m per year.
The figures show that in 2017 alone, the EU has invested over £43m in farming, including £30.8m from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund. Over 1,202 farms received funding, with an average amount of £25,309 being received in 2017.
The EU invests around £5billion a year in the UK, and the European single market is around eight times bigger than the UK market alone.
Last week, the SNP announced that up to £18 million of European cash would be used by the Scottish Government to set up an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to help small and medium sized businesses.
Commenting, Mr Swinney said:
“As these figures show, Perthshire and its surrounding areas have benefitted hugely from the strong relationship between Scotland and the European Union.
“EU funding has made a huge contribution to infrastructure, culture, and opportunities in Scotland. This is just the latest analysis which confirms that Brexit is going to inflict major harm on our economy.
“Far from delivering extra cash for the NHS, as was infamously promised by the Leave campaign bus, Scotland faces losing out on billions of pounds of funding with no clarity from the UK government over how this will be replaced.
“We are being dragged out of the European Union against our will, and Perthshire will be hugely damaged because of this. The only solution is to stay in the single market and customs union.”
NOTES
https://www.myeu.uk/#/area/PH - Details of funding for Perthshire and surrounding areas
