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I appreciate you not asking me, because you have probably seen that as recently as I have. There was no request to come and speak to me or to the cabinet secretary about the decision to resign. We will digest the information that was given to us at the same time as it was given to everyone else, although I think that we might have had an embargoed version a few hours before it was put out. We had an embargoed version, but we only found out very late in the day. There was no request for a discussion or debate about it, so we are still a little bit in the dark as to why that happened.

It would be a huge burden on the Scottish Government to fund producers from other parts of the UK, which would then require us to consider whether we could continue with the scheme. So, yes.

My apologies. I misspoke. Yes, there would be funding, but we would also be funding other organisations that would come up from down south.

The reservation makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It used to be a devolved function but, in 2020, I think, the UK Government decided to make it a reserved function, which makes no sense at all, because the budget comes from Scotland. That is when we had PO schemes across the UK, but the fact that England has now stopped its scheme has put us into the current position. We are taking steps to protect the scheme, but we do not have the primary legislative powers to change any of the definitions in it. As it stands, the scheme is doing what it was required to do in the first place. The situation just means that we do not have powers to do anything on the definitions of the scheme.

I agree that it does not make any sense at all that that function is reserved but that everything else is devolved.

It might not work for them, but it absolutely works in ensuring that Scotland has a vibrant group of people who are growing the kind of fruit and veg that we want to be grown in Scotland. It is working for them and it is working for Scotland plc.

It might not be working for some individuals, but, as I have already said to other committee members, I am more than happy to continue looking at how we can give them more support. We have put the small producers pilot fund in place, and I am absolutely committed to looking at how we can do more for them while, at the same time, providing stability for those who are living in less favoured areas and for people who are living in the most remote areas. I am committed to ensuring that the basic payment scheme that is currently in place is still functioning.

You are asking an awful lot by saying that we could have come here with a better scheme. We could have, but we also worked on ensuring that we gave stability and that we are transitioning at a pace that allows the farming community to come with us, while also ensuring that we get the delivery that we are looking for on biodiversity and carbon emissions.

Before the end of tomorrow?

No. I have not asked them. I know that NFU Scotland is keen for the SSI to be passed, but I do not want to start pitching one group of food producers and farmers in Scotland against another. We have seen that being done already and I do not think that we should be doing it.

I am asking for the SSI to be passed to allow us to create stability for a scheme that we know works. There might be members here who believe that it does not work, but I am absolutely convinced that it does. I am also giving the assurance that I have my eyes firmly on how we increase the resilience of the small producers that Ariane Burgess has mentioned a number of times and who, we both agree, are vitally important to our long-term sustainability and biodiversity through everything that they bring to the table. Getting this bit done will allow us to move on to the next bit.

Although I take Alasdair Allan’s point, I want to focus on the committee passing the SSI so that we can move on to the next bit, which will allow us to create more stability around the other areas of agriculture policy that we are developing.

That will very much depend on how many other producers join Scottish POs.

We consulted on the instrument. We did not consult on the whole picture and whether small producers were part of the scheme.

The SSI is about protecting a scheme that works. My pushback is that I know it works; I have been spoken with people and have seen the work that they are doing. I have also stated that smaller producers can get into the POs just as big producers can. The scheme is certainly working to introduce resilience in our fruit and veg sector. I reiterate that we are actively looking at how we can help to support smaller producers in other ways, but the SSI is about protecting a scheme and a budget that will be under threat if we do not pass the instrument, because it will be used by others from other parts of the UK to access funding. We are talking about two different things.

The plan currently works, because the producer organisations that I have spoken to are telling me that it works. It gives them certainty over a three-year period, which is what the SSI will do, rather than a two-year period, in order to continue to develop and grow in what is a very competitive market. No scheme has come from down south, so what do we do? Do we just scrap it altogether and say, “Let’s wait and see what the UK does”? I am afraid that I am not prepared to do that.