From the Scottish Government news website on 20th May:
Constitution Secretary Michael Russell has called for the Scottish Government and Parliament to be given a formal role in future UK trade deals. Responding to the Second Reading of the UK Trade Bill in the House of Commons today, he said the draft legislation did nothing to protect Scotland’s interests.
Mr Russell said:
“It is to Scotland’s detriment that this Bill is required at all. We would be economically stronger as members of the European Union, benefiting from its worldwide trade deals.
“Instead the UK must try to replace those agreements but, in its current form, the UK Trade Bill provides an unstable foundation on which to do so.
“It is disappointingly limited in scope. It says nothing about future free trade agreements or maintaining standards in areas like food and the environment. There is no reference to Parliamentary scrutiny and it fails to establish a formal way of ensuring the interests of the devolved administrations are properly taken into account.“
https://news.gov.scot/news/scotlands-role-in-trade-deals
There’s no sign of the Scottish media covering this in recent weeks though on the need for the bill to protect the NHS, the Herald did, the Worthing Herald that is:
Wait, I’ve found one. It’s that token good journalist at the Herald again, Ian McConnell:
Wait, no, not that much, specifically, about Scotland’s interests?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
The world will see a glut of manufactured goods for years to come. Very few people will be in a position to purchase, for example, new cars.
Scotland will still export prime food and drink. Our farms, distilleries and fisheries should be working double time to fill demand. But will they be? Will we be scuppered by English nationalist interests (they seem to think our fish stocks belong to them), in trade deals–deals where we have no one in the room.
At Westminster the Tories rule. We have Alister jack, God help us. In Scotland we have the Poodle Party led (from under the sofa) by Jack-a-nory Carlot, to push Scotland’s case.
Time for a fast exit, for Scotland.
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Look where the Tory seats in Scotland are: in the North East – the fiefdom of the Protestant Boys of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (i.e. a cartel of a small number of very big companies) and the Borders, where there are the big farming interests, represented by, amongst others, Mr Alistair Jack.
As long as these are all right then the Westminster Government will ignore the rest.
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How’s the fishing going, then? Caught something big?
1/ The issue is over the UK’s instence that the methodology known as Zonal Attachment should replace the existing quota share out system, known as Relative Stability…
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2/ Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, is holding a video conference with the fish ministers of the Group of Eight fishing member states, including Ireland. Lithuania, Poland and Portugal will join…
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3/ My understanding is that EU fish ministers will bluntly tell Mr Barnier that he must stick to the mandate which member states gave him at the outset, namely that EU vessels should continue to enjoy the same access to UK waters as they did under the Common Fisheries Policy
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4/ As a reminder, the EU’s negotiating mandate says the final deal should “build on existing reciprocal access conditions, [and] quota shares…” and that there should be “continued reciprocal access, for all relevant species, by [European] Union and United Kingdom vessels…”
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5/ On May 15, Barnier told a news conference there had been some movement on fisheries. Zonal Attachment was “one element” in a possible solution, he said, but not the “only element”. Some saw this as a signal the EU was going to compromise on the issue..
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6/ Zonal Attachment is devilishly complicated, but it basically means using deeper data to work out where fish species live, breed, spawn etc. Essentially, the UK believes that that methodology would rightfully restore much more quota to UK vessels in British waters…
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7/ Some member states regard this as a “quota grab” dressed up as science. Zonal Attachment, says one source, is at play in the EU’s ongoing discussions with independent coastal states (which the UK will become) over mackerel, but it is taking years…
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8/ Furthermore, says the source, the science isn’t there to provide the kind of data the UK is referring to, and that in any case, the EU and UK share over 100 stocks. So if it has taken years for mackerel, then imagine how long it will take for an entire fishing deal…
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9/ However, the UK is insisting on it…
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10/ It’s understood that in the interim between Barnier’s tentative offer on May 15, the mood among member states has hardened, not least because of David Frost’s letter of May 19, seen by many has combative…
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11/ It’s worth remembering that EU member states largely accepted the draft negotiating mandate drawn up by the European Commission in January. However, they made the language on fisheries tougher – something I’m told they will remind the EU’s chief negotiator this afternoon
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12/ Adding to the pressure, the European Parliament Fisheries Committee has adopted a resolution “no comprehensive agreement can be concluded between the EU and the UK if it does not include a complete, balanced and long-term fisheries agreement…
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13/ “allowing the continuation under optimal conditions of access to waters, resources and markets of the parties concerned”
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When this deal goes ahead,Scottish farming is going to be severely affected.
I believe that the Americans are demanding that food sold in our supermarkets must have no mention of point of origin or traceability.
They must think that we have an adversity towards chlorinated chicken and hormone injected beef and of course,they are right.
We are just going to be subjected to even more lies and deceit from Westminster but at least the Tories won’t have to disclose which tax haven their money is stashed in and how much.
People like Douglas Ross are responsible for this.
NE farmers take note.
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These two sentences should really tell us all we need to know about trade talks between the UK and USA.
“The world’s biggest economic power, which has taken a pugnacious “America First” stance on global trade under U.S. President Donald Trump, has a veteran steering its side of the talks: Robert Lighthizer.
The U.K., with an economy less than one-eighth the size of America’s, has Liz Truss, a relative neophyte almost 30 years younger than her U.S. counterpart.”
If you want more it’s here.
https://www.politico.eu/article/liz-truss-takes-on-us-and-the-world/
I suppose…hope…… well, it could be just wrong…
“One former minister said Truss was a “disastrous” justice secretary who lost the confidence of the judiciary by putting “narrow political considerations ahead of her duty.” The person added, “It’s damaged her. There is no doubt that she was never quite taken seriously afterwards in any role she has been doing.””
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Where , outside the UK itself, does the UK get most of its food?
“The government’s steadfast refusal to countenance an extension to the Brexit transition period, coupled with the relaunch of free trade talks with the US, is fueling speculation that Boris Johnson’s government is intent on radically transforming the UK’s model of political economy. Applying this logic to food and agriculture, Brexit provides an opportunity to leave the EU’s regulatory orbit, including the Common Agricultural Policy, so as to reclaim and re-design a UK food policy from scratch. Yet COVID-19 is a stark reminder of just how deeply the nation’s food security is dependent on the EU.”
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2020/05/21/covid-19-is-a-stark-reminder-of-how-deeply-the-uks-food-security-is-dependent-on-the-eu/
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