DEFRA farming minister George Eustice has been reminded of his commitment to re-open discussions about Scotland's share of CAP convergence uplift cash this autumn.

SNP rural affairs spokesman at Westminster, Calum Kerr, this week wrote to Mr Eustice to demand that he honour that commitment and make progress towards a "fairer distribution" of the disputed €230million.

Back in June, responding to a parliamentary question from Mr Kerr on the issue, the minister informed parliament that he would “expect to be able to progress those discussions with the Scottish Government in the autumn.”

This week, Mr Kerr’s letter expressed frustration that talks on revising the current distribution of the EU cash have not moved forward.

“It is clear that the UK is withholding money that ought to be supporting the Scottish rural economy," said Mr Kerr. "It has dragged its heels on this issue for far too long and a fair resolution on this matter is long overdue.”

The MP pointed out that unless more of these funds go to Scotland, it will have the EU’s lowest Pillar 1 payment rate per hectare by 2019 – despite the fact that the persistently low Scottish rate had underpinned the UK’s eligibility to receive the convergence uplift funding in the first place.

Mr Kerr added that Defra must not use Brexit as an excuse to shirk its commitments: “The Secretary of State has made a commitment to honouring CAP payments until 2020, so there is no logical reason why Scotland’s convergence uplift should be further delayed," he told Mr Eustice.

“Scotland’s farmers deserve parity with their counterparts throughout the UK and Europe and it remains incumbent on your department to recognise this and deliver a fair outcome as a matter of urgency,” he concluded.