George Lyon, Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland, has written to Richard Lochhead urging him to recognise the need to update the Pack Inquiry into how financial support can be tailored to Scottish farmers.

The Pack Inquiry findings were published before the European Commission published its proposals on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and, although the Pack Inquiry helped to guide the Commission’s report, there is a need to look into how the new proposals can work in Scotland.

Commenting, Mr Lyon said:

"The debate over the reform of the CAP is moving rapidly and it is vital that we keep on top of recent developments in Scotland.

“The Pack Inquiry was timely in that it helped to steer some of the Commission’s thinking over its findings that were published late last year.

“But the debate has moved on, and Pack must move on with it.

“There is an urgent need for a piece of work to be carried out to update the original Pack report to take account of the detail that we now know about. For example, we now know the details of how the flattening of payments will take place, there is also the new LFA top up we have to look at.

“The industry needs to know how these proposals might work at a practicable level in Scotland. We need a sequel to the Pack Inquiry.”