Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
Scottish Lib Dem Leader Willie Rennie has been challenged to renew his party’s support for keeping Scotland within the EU after one of his MSPs suggested leaving the EU was inevitable.
In an interview on Sunday Politics Scotland, MSP Mike Rumbles let his guard down stating “WHEN Scotland leaves the EU” rather than "IF" — contrasting sharply with the commitment given by his party leader to back the Scottish Government in negotiations to protect Scotland’s place in Europe.
Mr Rumbles also suggested that he was in favour of scrapping EU support for farmers which currently injects around a billion Euros of subsidies and development funding into Scotland’s rural economy.
Commenting, Stewart Stevenson MSP said:
“These are staggering revelations from Mike Rumbles who appears to be unilaterally repositioning the Scottish LibDems alongside the Tories as a party of born-again Brexiteers — resigned to Scotland being dragged out of the EU despite our overwhelming vote to remain.
“Willie Rennie should urgently renew his party’s commitment to the Scottish Government’s efforts in working to secure our place within the EU. And he needs to rein in those in his party who would seek to undermine those efforts in the course of political sniping.
"Aligning themselves with the Tories in 2010 and the independence referendum is what lost the LibDems hundreds of thousands of votes. Are they about to do the same again?
“Farmers across Scotland will also be dismayed by LibDem calls for vital CAP and rural development support to be scrapped — we’re talking about people’s livelihoods. It’s utterly reckless for Mike Rumbles to be fanning the flames of uncertainty rather than working with the SNP to protect the interests of Scottish farmers.”
“Willie Rennie should urgently renew his party’s commitment to the Scottish Government’s efforts in working to secure our place within the EU. And he needs to rein in those in his party who would seek to undermine those efforts in the course of political sniping.
"Aligning themselves with the Tories in 2010 and the independence referendum is what lost the LibDems hundreds of thousands of votes. Are they about to do the same again?
“Farmers across Scotland will also be dismayed by LibDem calls for vital CAP and rural development support to be scrapped — we’re talking about people’s livelihoods. It’s utterly reckless for Mike Rumbles to be fanning the flames of uncertainty rather than working with the SNP to protect the interests of Scottish farmers.”
