Agriculture takes positive view of Budget

There was a qualified welcome to the Budget yesterday from Scottish farming leaders, with Jamie Younger, partner in the Landed Estates and Rural Business Group, describing it as “reasonable and generally positive”, while Scott Walker chief executive of the National Farmers Union Scotland welcomed the scrapping of the fuel duty increase.

Both welcomed the new employment allowance, which will provide a £2,000 cut in the national insurance payments made by the employer and which Younger said would encourage jobs and be good news for small businesses.

On the fuel duty move, Walker said: “The rural economy as a whole will be relieved to hear that the Chancellor has scrapped the proposed fuel duty rise scheduled for this September.

“This is will be welcomed by those living and working in the countryside – and especially those in remote areas – for whom personal and business transport costs are much higher than in central and urban areas and for whom a car is a necessity rather than a luxury.”

ANDREW ARBUCKLE