After the horse has bolted!

SIR, - I write with regard to George McLaren’s letter in the July 2 edition. Mr McLaren thinks that all will be well now that we are about to exit the EU. He appears to think that with a little bit of persuasion, a benign British government will support British farming in every way it can and that we will all live happily ever after.
All we have to do to attain this utopia is to get our leaders to speak to the government on our behalf.
I fear that the eventful outcome of Brexit may prove to be very different.
Margaret Beckett, when she was the Minister of Agriculture in Tony Blair’ government held the view that there was no need to support British agriculture as there was an ample supply of food out in the wide world and that to buy it would be a cheaper option.
The British Government, although it might not hold quite such an extreme view, would, if we judge by the way its representatives have negotiated on our behalf in previous CAP negotiations, like to see British farming rely entirely on the market place.
Mr McLaren says that the ERU, because of free trade agreements, allows cheap food, produced by nations with lower costs and lower standards of production, to come in to Europe. He says that, after Brexit, that will no longer be the case.
I am afraid the reverse may prove to be the case; countries supplying Europe with food have to abide by a strict quota.
After Brexit, because of the government’s desire to provide cheap food for our population and its wish to open up markets for Britain’s manufactured goods, they may give unrestricted access to our market for beef and lamb etc from Brazil, Argentine, New Zealand etc.
There are some persons, although Mr McLaren might not be one of them, who think that once we have rid ourselves of the constraints of the EU, we will no longer have to abide with greening rules, be subject to the three crop rule, or suffer penalties for non cross compliance, or small mistakes, in our record keeping.
Again, I am afraid that the opposite might be the case.
The RSPB has possible more members than there are bird lovers in the whole of Europe; it is a wealthy organisation with considerable influence in the corridors of power, and its views, along with any other wild life or environmental organisation, will be readily embraced by our Government.
Bear in mind too, that many of the rules coming out from Britain, are gold plaited by the London and Scottish Governments.
Is it wise to think that, after Brexit, farming will have few rules to abide by?
We can only hope that things will not turn out to be as bad as this epistle would seem to suggest, and that the British government, against all the odds, will replace the single farm payment, at least to a certain extent, when the time comes.
The Scottish Government might wish to do that. But will it be given the funds to do so?
Perhaps I should have written this letter before June 23, because writing it now is like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted!