McGrigor holds talks with crofters in Parliament

Highlands & Islands MSP Jamie McGrigor last week held talks with representatives of the Scottish Crofting Foundation. Jamie also attended the bi-monthly meeting of the Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Crofting. The recently published Crofting Bill was a main topic of discussion. Other items on the agenda of the Cross Party Group included requests for regulation and control of wild geese which are devastating crofters' crops in the Uists, in Shetland and elsewhere and calls for the compensation to be paid in other areas other than the island of Islay for damage by geese.

Commenting on crofters’ continuing concerns about the requirement for registration of all crofts in the Crofting Bill, Jamie said:

“ Since the IACS maps are perfectly good and should show boundaries, the townships should be able to get together and base maps on the IACS maps and existing deeds rather than start again with a completely new process which could well cause disputes and disagreements and of course be costly to crofters. When I took my Bill through Parliament for a Scottish Register of Tartans the status quo of what was already registered was accepted and it was decided only new applicants would have to pay for registration. Whilst there is obviously a difference, I think the Scottish Government should follow the same principles and adopt the status quo from the townships so as to speed up reforms which can actually improve the life of people on the crofts.”

Referring to some of the other issues Jamie discussed, he added:

“ Crofters from Shetland called for a derogation from the electronic identification of sheep which is an unnecessary blight on all farms and crofts in Scotland. If this directive becomes law I would certainly support a derogation for Shetland and other island areas which have a very good health scheme and identification record already.

“ The ongoing saga of the Bull Hire Scheme was also raised, along with the suspicion that the Scottish Government's much-vaunted theory that this scheme goes against EU state aid rules is in fact not true. This the more so because the de minimis regime has been upgraded from 3000 euros to 7500 euros which would allow a Bull Hire Scheme to be put in place without any problems. I hope the Scottish Government will now take this on board instead of taking away a scheme which has benefited crofters and the quality of their cattle stock for more than a century.

“ On the issue of sea eagles, I understood a petition would be coming forward from a crofter in the Highlands asking for measures to defend livestock from sea eagles or any other predator. It appears that compensation has been paid to farmers and crofters in Mull and Wester Ross but there are many areas where lamb losses have taken place and no compensation is available; this seems unfair. I have nothing against the sea eagle but it will also be at risk from unlawful killing unless crofters are allowed either to defend their livestock or be compensated for its loss. If these powerful carnivorous birds are being set free in Scotland, it is necessary to take heed of the consequences in an honest manner.”