Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
Commenting, Mr. Stevenson said:
“Banff and Buchan Tory MP, David Duguid MP assured the press that he had ‘consistently received assurances from ministers that trade would continue unimpeded if the UK leaves the EU without agreement’. I thought that highly unlikely on the evidence that I had seen, and decided to seek more detailed assurances from the ministers in question”.
Mr Stevenson wrote to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs in May to question what arrangements have been put in place, and received a response from Robert Goodwill MP, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food.
Mr Stevenson said:
“Michael Gove has made a number of whistle-stop photo opportunities in the North east, during which he has promised the earth to our farmers and the seas to our fishermen. However, as the prospect of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit looms ever closer, he is clearly not in a position to deliver on those assurances.
“The response which I have received from the Minister does not reassure me at all, and I am surprised that it has given succour to David Duguid. It opens by stating that
'there will be a number of changes that UK businesses will need to make, in order to continue exporting wild-caught marine fish or fisheries products to the EU. These include providing catch certificates and export health certificates (EHCs), and in some cases they may also need a prior-notification form, pre-landing declaration, storage document or processing statement’.
Indeed, the letter lists at least six different documents which will require processing in addition to the fish, which might come as surprise to an industry which has repeatedly been told that leaving the EU would bring an end to its burden of bureaucracy”.
“I subsequently made enquiries to the Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council, who confirmed my understanding that, as with a number of other local authorities,
‘the Environmental Health Service [which issues EHCs] would face a significant increase in the numbers of requests from exporters should there be a No Deal Brexit’.
He goes on to say that
‘A No Deal Brexit would pose challenges to a number of agencies, in addition to local authorities’
and concludes
‘Therefore, at this stage it is not possible to quantify the impact of a No Deal on the Environmental Health Service’.
“It would therefore appear that the ‘assurances’ which have been given by the Westminster Government are based on passing the buck to the fishing and seafood industries and local authorities. The only difference between Michael Gove and his hapless colleague, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, is that the fishing industry does at least have its own vessels!”
“The response which I have received from the Minister does not reassure me at all, and I am surprised that it has given succour to David Duguid. It opens by stating that
'there will be a number of changes that UK businesses will need to make, in order to continue exporting wild-caught marine fish or fisheries products to the EU. These include providing catch certificates and export health certificates (EHCs), and in some cases they may also need a prior-notification form, pre-landing declaration, storage document or processing statement’.
Indeed, the letter lists at least six different documents which will require processing in addition to the fish, which might come as surprise to an industry which has repeatedly been told that leaving the EU would bring an end to its burden of bureaucracy”.
“I subsequently made enquiries to the Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council, who confirmed my understanding that, as with a number of other local authorities,
‘the Environmental Health Service [which issues EHCs] would face a significant increase in the numbers of requests from exporters should there be a No Deal Brexit’.
He goes on to say that
‘A No Deal Brexit would pose challenges to a number of agencies, in addition to local authorities’
and concludes
‘Therefore, at this stage it is not possible to quantify the impact of a No Deal on the Environmental Health Service’.
“It would therefore appear that the ‘assurances’ which have been given by the Westminster Government are based on passing the buck to the fishing and seafood industries and local authorities. The only difference between Michael Gove and his hapless colleague, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, is that the fishing industry does at least have its own vessels!”
