DONALD Trump has not been getting great press for his executive orders since becoming US president. However one he signed could be usefully put in place here, in the context of drawing up a new agricultural policy for the UK to replace the CAP, which for years has been stretched to accommodate 28 very different EU member states.

In what he sees as a boost for business, Trump has issued an order that if a new business regulation is being brought in, that can only happen if two are removed. The military is excluded from this, and the regulation can be bypassed at a senior level within the administration.

This has been tried in the UK in the past to little effect, since civil servants had the fallback position that they had to comply with European Commission rules. That excuse will no longer hold true after Brexit.

When that happens it will test whether politicians and civil servants really do want a lighter touch to regulation, or are wedded to it and using the EU as an excuse?

As things stand, all CAP and EU regulations will go over time. Existing rules under EU law will be automatically turned into UK law. Then over time these will be looked at and those that are not necessary will go.

This does not sound like the promises made before the referendum last June that leaving the EU would sweep away all the regulations of the CAP. Those linked to basic payments will no longer be necessary, but they will be replaced with new regulations for whatever scheme is put in place for the UK.

If that is an environmental scheme, as has been suggested, the same problems around defining area and landscape features will remain. Apart from the three crop rule, many of the frustrations of greening could still be with us.

In the US, Trump is trying to send a positive message to the business community that backed him. It would be encouraging if, on this side of the Atlantic, ministers were prepared to say, or even hint, that they see Brexit as a way to cut the coils of red tape wrapped around farming and other industries. Some are necessary to protect people and the environment, but what has emerged from Brussels over the years goes far beyond that.

What happens around Brexit will deliver the answer to an age old question – does the UK gold plate regulations, because it has to, or does it do it because it believes EU regulations do not go far enough? If that approach continues, it will be a big disappointment for farmers who voted to leave the EU because they believed Brexit would bring about a reduction in regulation, form filling and unnecessary inspections.

This week saw an event in Brussels that in the past would have grabbed headlines in the UK farming press, but which Brexit has made largely irrelevant. The European Commission began the process of putting a post-2020 CAP in place, with the publication of a consultation. This will pave the way for a stakeholders meeting in the summer.

In the past, the twists and turns of this would have dominated debate in the farming industry here. The irony this time around is that some of the headlines in the document point to a CAP farmers could have lived more easily with in Scotland. The initial aim is to find what would and would not be acceptable to member states, and where their red line issues lie.

In what is effectively a 'yes or no' section on acceptability, issues including simplification, financing the CAP, the role of member states, young farmer support and risk management. Also raised beyond that, in an area seeking more detailed member states' views on the principles behind the CAP, are questions about shift in the foundation of the CAP towards performance outcomes and away from compliance.

This all sound good in theory, and some farmers looking at it may even regret their enthusiasm to leave the CAP and the EU for a new, as yet unknown, UK support regime. However the environment directorate and others are already trying to influence the CAP debate before it even begins. It will be later this year before we get any real idea as to whether what is in the offing is the same old CAP or a radical new policy with a lighter regulatory approach.