Vice President's Blog 3 November 2011

The Macdonald report calling on Defra to strip out red tape upholds the crucial need for NFUS to engage as early as possible in any debate before the legislation is tabled at all levels.

This means stepping up the lobbying of all MEP's, MSP's and MP's making sure that they are aware of how important farming and rural businesses are to the future of our economy. 

We all want rural community survival but survival by sustainable economic growth and not totally dependent on handouts. Ideally we ant targeted funding that delivers a sustainable return but is unconstrained by the overbearing cost of regulation and red tape. 

What do we all think of the new proposal of cost of inspection recovery plans for the health and safety directorate, the HSE?  Is it a case of jobs for the boys again?  Forced to accept the costs of a regulatory body with all the trappings of a department that aims to go on forever. There is no alternative.  There is no other body that can do the work so HSE will look to charge the costs as they see fit. 

This sounds all too familiar as we have been here before. - NVZ's, general binding rules, Scottish animal health budget.

We have never taken changes to our regulatory costs lying down but we have learned the hard way.  We need to keep addressing the affects and impact of any regulation.  We must reduce the costs and drive forward a common sense approach to reduce the actual regulations.

Last year alone there were over 2000 pieces of regulation that affected agriculture.  And that was after the BAB office managed to cut out what they could. NFUS' job is to keep farmers farming and we are gathering a head of steam to combat the overlapping regulators.