NICOLA Sturgeon has hit back at Boris Johnson for appearing to trivialise warnings about a cull of 120,000 pigs because of a shortage of abattoir workers following Brexit.
The First Minister was asked yesterday about the Prime Minister’s remarks, which he made in an interview with the BBC journalist Andrew Marr last Sunday when he suggested it was what normally happened to farmed life stock.
She was asked by SNP backbencher Jim Fairlie at First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood whether she thought “the cull and incineration of pigs that should have gone into our food system” was an unacceptable waste and about the “financial and emotional toll on the farmers involved”.
“It was deeply regrettable that the Prime Minister treated the very serious issues of animal welfare with such disdain on Sunday,” she said.
“The Government is monitoring the specific issue that Jim Fairlie raised very carefully. At the heart of that issue is labour shortages, which are impacting on many sectors of our economy.
“Those labour shortages have been significantly exacerbated by the ending of freedom of movement that came about because of Brexit.”
READ MORE: Hundreds of healthy pigs already been culled due to UK labour shortage
She added fundamentally “the solutions have to lie” with the UK Government and she called on it to take urgent action.
Asked about warnings of and incineration of up to 120,000 pigs because of labour shortages across the UK, Johnson initially argued that this was no different from what normally happened to livestock.
He said: “I hate to break it to you, Andrew, but I’m afraid our food processing industry does involve killing a lot of animals, that is the reality.
“Your viewers need to understand that. That’s just what happens.”
When Marr pointed out that it would be different, as in this instance the pigs would not be butchered for food and the farmers would receive no income, Johnson said this was part of a wider transformation of the economy post-Brexit.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel