WESTMINSTER “hasn’t a clue” about what it is going to do about UK-only farm support after 2020.

Sharing a stage with Defra farm minister George Eustice at this week’s Semex conference in Glasgow, agri-economist Sean Rickard bluntly accused the UK government of “living in cloud cuckoo land” over the realities of Brexit, trade and food security.

Never one for mincing his words, Mr Rickard went further, insisting that despite all this week’s political rhetoric, Brexit was “far from being a done deal” and, as the UK population began to personally experience what it would do to their standard of living, he would not be surprised if the country changed its mind.

Responding to Mr Eustice’s address to the conference, Mr Rickard said that it had scored highly on platitudes, but rated low on “actual vision”, and he doubted the government’s claim that it could negotiate a special deal with Europe. He specifically warned that being outwith the single market would kill the Scottish lamb trade.

“There are only two possible ways forward for the UK. One is the hard Brexit which Theresa May admitted would be like jumping off a cliff, or a transition arrangement for a period of five years which would see us remain in the European Economic Area and basically subject to all the EU regulations with the ability to begin unilateral trade negotiations.

“However during this transitional period, UK voters might realise that leaving the EU was not such a good idea with people finding themselves worse off. A year or two from now, with the collapse of the pound and costs going up, the general public might decide to change their minds about leaving the EU at the next election.

“Even if we do leave, times will be tough and we can say with absolute certainty that never, anywhere in the world, will we get any deal as good as the one we have enjoyed under the single market.”

For his part, Mr Eustice had insisted he was proud to be the first agriculture minister for almost half a century to have a direct say in how farm policy develops in the UK, untangling itself from the CAP.

The minister admitted that he wanted to see an end to any form of direct support payments, and in their place the introduction of measures tailored to water catchment areas and landscape approaches, along with risk management tools such as forward markets and crop insurance with government backing. He promised fresh encouragement for innovation, improved animal welfare, reduced antibiotic use and the removal of the barriers keeping new entrants out of the farming industry.

As far as the dairy sector was concerned, Mr Eustice backed the formation of more producer organisations to strengthen producers’ position in the supply chain, and said that the government may look a grant aid to support their development.

He also stressed that there was no intention to dilute the current devolution measures enjoyed by the Scottish Government, but he was equally adamant that there was a requirement for an over-arching UK policy framework for any support measures: “Clearly there will need to be agreement to avoid market-distorting approaches between the administrations.

“For example we couldn’t have Scotland and Wales introducing large sheep headage payments which would put Cumbrian farmers at a huge disadvantage. We need parameters to protect the integrity of the UK market. And remember, Europe needs us as much as we need them.”