Political Comparison Made Easy

SUSTAINING OUR FISHING COMMUNITIES

We recognise the importance of fishing to the Scottish Economy. While we are not prepared to make empty promises like the SNP, we are determined to do all we can to secure serious reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, with conservation and industry working hand in-hand. We know that we will have the support of UK Ministers, and believe that the best hope for the industry is for the UK to speak with one voice. We must make the reduction of discards a high priority, while securing improved management of fish stocks and the prosperity of our fishing industry.

We are also committed to pursuing domestic fisheries reform. In particular, we will provide Civil Service support to investigate the possible development of a vertically integrated, market focused, co-operative model for the demersal sector. We will also encourage and support aquaculture in appropriately sited developments.

PROMOTING LOCAL FOOD

Consumers often want to buy Scottish or local produce but are put off by confusing or even misleading labelling. We will legislate to ensure honesty in geographical labelling for food. So that government shows a lead in reducing food miles, we will encourage procurement of local food across the public sector, and retain the Single Farm Payment.

To help small, local producers and improve the viability of Scottish farming as a whole, we will move quickly to put in place a risk-based regime for meat inspection, comparable in scope and simplicity with those of EU nations which have modernized their inspection services.

Finally, to help people grow their own food, develop their leisure time and improve the appearance of their local area, we will introduce a right to request disused publicly-owned land be put into use as allotments. We will also provide Civil Service support to create a new Social Enterprise, "Growing Scotland", to run an online matching service for people seeking to form gardening cooperatives or to share/borrow plots.

Please see pages 26-27 of the Scottish Conservative Party manifesto for this policy.

Please also see the Scottish Conservative Party spending plans and the Scottish Conservative Party summary budget which relate to their manifesto.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 11/04/11 (4:38pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Growing a healthy rural economy for businesses, communities and families

Rural and Island Economy Action Plan

More than one million people live in rural and island areas of Scotland. They contribute significantly to the Scottish economy and the diversity of our country. We are determined that all people, all communities achieve their potential. We recognise the importance of post offices, the need for affordable housing and the potential of a digital economy for rural and island areas. We want to develop the diversity of the economy in rural and island Scotland with new industries. We will help people with the cost of living in these areas. And we will take steps to help with traditional agriculture and fisheries which have sustained these areas for centuries and should become more important in a world of increasing concerns about food security.

The Rural and Island Economy Action Plan will:
• Promote innovation in rural businesses and support food and drink producers in developing new products, especially those with added value, and securing more exports.
• Develop links between Scotland's traditional food production base and advanced manufacturing sectors to add further value to Scottish agriculture and fisheries.
• Help deliver our Better Procurement Action Plan that will make changes to government procurement to support local produce and improve the local supply chain.
• Retain Scotland's forests in public ownership and seek additional and innovative joint ventures for our great forests.
• Work with stakeholders to review the current forestry target and agree an ambitious forest planting strategy. We will increase annually the net productive forest cover and support our timber industries. We will, however, avoid disproportionate burdens on communities and protect good agricultural land.
• Make sure that forest waste can be used to generate electricity and heat for the local community where appropriate.
• Pilot the expansion of timber-framed construction of new buildings by public bodies to support the forestry industries. We will procure wood products only from CPET certified sources.
• Continue our successful post office diversification fund to bring new life and sustainability to rural post offices, and work across government to develop new areas of public services that can be delivered through post offices.
• Ensure the delivery of super-fast broadband through our Digital Economy Action Plan brings tangible benefits to rural and island communities.
• Ensure the new Regional Development Banks develop new local tourism plans that play to local strengths and support the development of tourism and destination management, including online booking.
• Back joint ventures between state landowners and commercial or social enterprises such as in tourism and recreation with objectives for our national heritage bodies, Scottish Natural Heritage and Historic Scotland, to promote our natural and built heritage for economic and social gain.
• Make sure that the employment contracts for public workers in rural areas are flexible enough to allow them to work on small-scale businesses and enterprises in addition to their normal paid work.
• Work with the UK Government to secure the benefits of its fuel derogation and use every opportunity to lobby our European partners to agree to its implementation and extension.
• Explore ways of supporting key rural filling stations to adapt and survive, including the adoption of 24 hour card payment systems and changes associated with new fuels and electric vehicle systems.
• Using planning regulations to create an innovative Home On The Farm scheme for more affordable homes from disused and underused farm buildings, giving farmers a new income, ensuring farm succession and providing homes for local people.
• Support rural co-operatives and work with them and the Federation of Small Businesses in ways that can help the widest possible number of rural small businesses.

Please see pages 37-38 of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 18/04/11 (2:15am) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Rural Agenda

Growing the Rural Economy and Creating Jobs

We've been speaking to people in communities across rural Scotland and heard the issues that are most important to them. We will continue to invest in rural jobs and growing the rural economy. That means taking forward our rural development programme, helping rural businesses expand, diversify and create jobs, with priorities to be agreed with stakeholders such as food production, renewable energy, climate change and a value-added approach. And because we know the importance to businesses and families of digital connection we will invest in the rural roll out of high-speed broadband across Scotland.

A big part of creating more prosperous and sustainable communities across Scotland is ensuring a greater benefit for communities from our nation's substantial natural assets. We want to see more community benefit from renewable energy and so will take forward our proposal for a new £2.4 million fund to enable community investment in renewables projects, securing a long-term return and income for those communities who become involved.

We will also create a new Rural Innovation Fund to support new community enterprise initiatives in rural Scotland, helping communities establish successful local businesses. And we will further expand tourism opportunities around outdoor activity, food and drink and Scotland's culture.

We also want to see an expansion of the mutual model in rural Scotland and will support the creation of rural co-operatives, including local energy co-operatives to enable communities to take forward their own local renewables projects. We will make the case for further devolution in this area to enable a more rapid expansion of co-operatives in rural Scotland.

And to ensure the voice of rural Scotland is heard, we will take forward proposals for a rural parliament to enable rural communities to engage more effectively with government.

Increasing the Value of our Fishing Industry

Fishing remains a vital industry for Scotland. It is worth more than £1 billion to the Scottish economy. Over the past four years we have worked closely with our fishing industry and other partners to secure a stronger future for the industry in the face of a Common Fisheries Policy that hampers rather than helps our efforts to conserve stocks.

Our priority over the next five years will be to achieve discard-free fisheries in Scottish waters and increase the value of landings for our fishermen. We want to see more fish landed alongside an overall reduction in mortality rates. This will require a change of approach at a European level, and we will continue to make the case for radical reform of the EU's fisheries policy to give a greater say and control to the fishing nations and to the fishing communities. The CFP is well past its sell-by date.

We will develop a national strategy for Fisheries Dependent Areas to support economic development and encourage local authorities, along with our fishing communities, to develop regional action plans to strengthen local fishing-related economies around our shores. In partnership with the industry we will look to restore the identity and status of fishing as an occupation of choice and continue to support research in fishing to help map out the most profitable future for the industry.

We will work to support the expansion of exports of quality Scottish fish and shellfish and encourage more Scots to eat fish and shellfish as part of our healthier eating strategy. And we will continue our efforts to secure MCS sustainability status for more Scottish stocks, knowing that this is good not only for the future of stocks but also for the positioning of Scottish fish as a premium product in international markets.

We will continue to support Inshore Fisheries Groups and work for an ongoing increase in the value of inshore sales. We will investigate the potential for more low-impact fisheries and we will introduce industry-led measures for the static gear sector such as creels. We want to see wider marine regeneration with the benefits this will bring for stocks and will explore with the industry the development of inshore sustainable fisheries pilots. And we will also take forward a Small Harbours Initiative to help promote and diversify our small coastal communities.

We will work with our Higher Education Institutions and industry to explore the establishment of a centre of excellence for fisheries management.

A Commitment to Food Production and Growing Farm Businesses

The primary purpose of agriculture in Scotland is and has to be the production of food. We will develop a value-added strategy for Scottish farm produce, linked to our successful food and drink policy. We want to see a greater return for Scottish farmers for the food they produce and new opportunities to develop new products for market.

We are determined to maintain food production at the heart of our agriculture policy. And we will build on the principles of the Pack Inquiry in partnership with the industry.

Over the next few years we will see reform of the CAP. Scotland has distinctive needs and we will continue to make the case for our farming sector with UK ministers and in discussions at EU level. Scotland's interest must be recognised and in particular we will argue for the continuation of direct support and for a move away from historic payment towards a regime that rewards active agriculture and caters for new entrants.

We will publish an agri-renewables strategy and will continue to support renewable energy solutions to increase sustainability and profitability of farm businesses, as part of our wider efforts to deliver higher levels of sustainable growth in our rural economy. We will also take forward our action plan for organic food and farming.

We recognise the important place of crofting in our society and the contribution it makes to health and strength of many rural communities. We will encourage the creation of new crofts especially on public land.

We will amend the Agricultural Holdings Act to support tenant farmers and will work to encourage new entrants. We also believe that when a farm business is being passed from one generation to the next it should be easier for the successor to build a home on the farm where required.

Reducing Burdens on Rural Businesses

Since 2007 progress has been made in reducing the number of inspection visits to Scottish farms through the SEARS initiative, but this only a start. We have as our ambition the delivery, where possible, of a one-visit approach.

To reduce the bureaucracy facing farm businesses we will take forward proposals for a Funds Gateway Ð an online portal and single point of access for fund applications. We will investigate the creation of a single IT platform for ScotlandÕs rural agencies to enable information to be shared more easily and will pilot a SEARS kitemark that will be recognised across agencies as indicating that a premises has reached an agreed standard. We will also encourage agencies to move to a more risk-based assessment, and begin a process of review of existing regulation to streamline requirements within the legal limits that exist.

Please see pages 38-39 of the Scottish National Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 16/04/11 (4:56pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Sustainable development of the land

We want to see more people living and making their livelihoods in rural parts of Scotland. Sustainable development will be encouraged in all sectors of the rural economy including agriculture and food production, forestry, light industry, renewable energy, tourism, environmental management, services and infrastructure.

Subject to careful environmental impact assessments, we will encourage rural teleworking and decentralisation of government and businesses to rural areas. We will also encourage distance learning, improvements to rural public transport and other measures to make it easier for people to work in rural areas. We support measures to keep money in rural economies, such as local food networks, business partnerships, and sustainable industrial activity.

Rural support and subsidy remains focused on large farms and landowners, and Greens will bring in a new £80m a year fund for small farmers and crofters. We'll also support small rural abattoirs, a key part of our local food networks.

We will develop a Scottish action plan for organic farming, in parallel with moves at an EU level. The proposed action plan would analyse bottlenecks and include concrete, measurable targets for the expansion of organic farming.

We will redirect research programmes in Scotland toward sustainable food production with a focus on organic and biodynamic systems. We support an increase in native woodland cover to 40 per cent by 2050, back community orchards, and reject the privatisation of the Forestry Commission.

Please see page 14 of the Scottish Green Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 05/05/11 (1:28am) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Supporting our rural and island communities

Scotland's rural communities - along with being key to Scotland's cultural and social heritage - play an important role in our economy and will be a vital component in getting Scotland through the tough times. Scottish Labour will establish a new Commission for Rural Scotland, to report on how best to ensure remote, rural and island communities are not left behind as cuts to front-line services take hold, and can instead continue to contribute to building Scotland's prosperity.

To support our rural communities, Scottish Labour will lobby the UK Government to reverse the VAT rise on fuel. We will campaign to support the retention of the universal service obligation, which ensures rural communities have access to decent mail services and will also work with communities to protect and develop local post offices in rural locations.

Scottish Labour will support rural business by ensuring that training opportunities exist for industries important to rural areas, such as land management, textiles, tourism and renewables industries. We will also explore what more can be done to support local businesses in rural communities, including bringing forward a broadband strategy to extend and improve the quality of broadband and mobile coverage in remote and economically fragile rural areas.

We will support fairness for food producers through campaigning for reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. We will work to support a viable, community-focussed fishing industry. We will also look both at the needs of communities who rely on fishing and will work in partnership to develop a sustainable vision for our fishing industries for the future.

Scottish Labour will ensure that the review of support for farming considers how to deliver a range of benefits for our communities, including the provision of good quality food, well-maintained land, a scenic and biodiverse environment, well-managed water quality and climate change mitigation. We will continue to work to support farming in lessfavoured areas and seek to use the Rural Development Programme to support the development of cooperatives and support for processing and marketing for Scottish produce, to ensure rural communities gain added value from food production. Scottish Labour continues to support the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board as an important protector of decent wages in farming communities. On tenant farming, Scottish Labour will take action on rent review clauses and will address inheritance anomalies.

Scottish Labour will continue to support our crofting communities. We will reflect the strong views of crofters during the passage of the Crofting (Scotland) Act 2010 by not commencing the second register specified by the Act, and not commencing reporting by grazings clerks. We will focus instead on practical measures to support crofters in keeping their land management activities viable and helping them to find new economic activity.

Please see pages 79-80 of the Scottish Labour Party manifesto for this policy.

Please see this SCREEN GRAB of the previous version of this policy from the party website.

Retrieved on 12/04/11 (2:32am) from: 2011 Party Manifesto