By Richard Wright   

THE NFU in Scotland this week pressed for the gold plating in greening regulations to be stripped out by the Scottish government.
There is a good case for this to happen, but in the Brexit context the fact it is being highlighted confirms that the red tape of the CAP is not all down to Brussels. When, if polls were right, farmers voted for Brexit, they did so to escape the bureaucracy that surrounds the CAP – but greening is evidence that some is home-grown rather than Brussels-produced.
If this does not change after Brexit, farmers are in for a big disappointment. Officials have hinted that to make the transition from 40-plus years of EU legislation easy, they will ‘cut and paste’ most legislation into UK law.
This is certainly easier for officials than putting new national legislation in place. But if that happens, people will ask what was the point of leaving the EU?
In fact, farmers could end up worse off – with the same red tape, but without the protection of EU legislation and gains from the lobbying might of the European farm lobby through COPA.
Gold plating has always been a problem in the UK. By definition the main output of bureaucrats is bureaucracy – and the UK public sector does that with a unique zeal. Prime examples are most areas of the CAP and, of course, the worst excesses of health and safety legislation.
Until now the excuse has always been that Brussels is to blame. But after Brexit, that will not longer wash.
To prevent this, politicians, particularly those at Westminster, need to make clear from the outset that this is not acceptable. Even those who campaigned aggressively for Brexit have given no commitment they will make sure things are different.
Until they do so, people will continue to ask what was the point of the referendum, since there are no signs yet that it will deliver any difference.
We now know the UK will leave the EU, but we are still a long way from knowing the details. When politics come back to life in the autumn, there has to be a greater focus on developing a new post-2020 agricultural policy.
In a recent article for the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore wrote about how, freed from Brussels, conservationists and farmers ‘can make hay together’. It is worth reading.
The thrust is that if Brexit is to mean anything, the opportunity has to be seized to create an entirely new agricultural policy – one without onerous greening regulations, without endless inspections and mapping rules designed to catch people out.
It would also stop bans on products on the basis of slim science just to please activist pressure groups.
Whether you were a ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ supporter, we are where we are now.
An opportunity has been created to create an entirely new approach to supporting agriculture. This can be one based on light touch regulation, with its foundation the creation of a thriving, technically driven globally competitive farming industry.
It could deliver a safe, assured food supply and protect the environment. With the right imagination, this is possible.
Hopefully, the UK farm unions acting together will move the debate onto this ground, targeting a political commitment to an approach that will confirm Brexit can deliver for farming.
There should be no lack of funding for such a policy, given that the UK has always been a nett contributor to CAP, despite the budget rebate. Combine funding with political will and everything becomes possible.
However, for a sound policy to emerge, the first thing needed is imagination. That could make Brexit a real opportunity to create a new agricultural model.
Leaving the EU may not have been the choice of all, but even the most ardent Remain supporters knew the CAP was a flawed policy and one that the next reforms could only make worse.
Brexit takes agriculture away from that model. But if it fails to deliver a new partnership between farmers, conservationists and politicians, the referendum and the promises of a new, dynamic agriculture will come to nothing.
This depends on a change of mindset amongst politicians and, in turn, on them telling officials that cutting and pasting EU regulations into UK law is not the road to a new agricultural policy.