BORDERS MP CALLS ON DEFRA MINISTER TO TAKE URGENT ACTION OVER NEW SHEEP IDENTIFICATION RULES

12.00.00am GMT Tue 15th Jan 2008

Borders MP Michael Moore has called on the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to take urgent action over new sheep identification regulations which risk severely damaging the livelihoods of sheep farmers in Scotland.

The European Commission intends to introduce a mandatory system involving the electronic recording of individual sheep movements by the end of 2009. However, concerns have been raised about the feasibility of implementing such a system in Scotland. The National Farmers Union of Scotland believes that the new regulation could cripple Scotland's sheep industry, which has traditionally relied on the recording of batch movements of sheep.

Mr Moore has today written to Hilary Benn to urge him to press the European Commission to re-think their plans. The Commission has set up a working group to look into how the new regulation would be implemented, which will meet next week.

Mr Moore said:

"The Commission's one-system-fits-all approach to the issue of traceability in sheep farming does not take into account the different conditions in which sheep farmers in Scotland work compared with other EU countries.

"Smaller flocks of sheep are more common elsewhere, but here in Scotland farmers can have flocks of up to 1,000 and more. Therefore, a system of individual identification will be comparatively more expensive to introduce in Scotland than in other parts of Europe.

"It is imperative that the Commission takes this into account, and it is the job of our Government to ensure that this happens by making the case in an effective way. I look forward to a positive response from the Minister to my call for urgent action."