Swinney demands greater engagement with UK Government over Gulf conflict

Sir Keir Starmer has made a “big mistake” by not involving Holyrood ministers in talks over the impact the conflict in Iran is having in the UK, First Minister John Swinney insisted.

The SNP leader said he has now written to the Prime Minister seeking increased involvement with discussions, saying it is vital that Scottish interests are represented in talks at the highest level.

The First Minister spoke out as farmers’ leaders in Scotland highlighted their concerns on the effect that action by the US and Israel against Iran is having on food production in Scotland.

The National Farmers’ Union Scotland fears that the “escalating disruption in the Middle East is rapidly developing into a domestic food production crisis”.

The conflict has all but closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for tankers carrying oil, gas and chemicals, with farmers complaining the hike in prices for both fuel and fertiliser as a result of this has impacted them.

NFU Scotland president Andrew Connon said: “This is not a distant geopolitical issue, it is already hitting farm businesses across Scotland hard.

“Farmers cannot absorb these unprecedented cost increases indefinitely.

“Without urgent government intervention, we will see a contraction in food production, with consequences for consumers and the wider economy.”

Speaking to the Press Association as he campaigned in Glasgow in the run up to May’s Holyrood election, Mr Swinney said he shared the NFU’s concerns, noting that international conflicts such as both the war in Ukraine and the US and Israeli action against Iran could become a “real challenge and an issue for us very very quickly”.

The First Minister said: “The farming community will be experiencing that issue in relation to the cost of fuel and access to certain supplies including fertiliser, which is vital for securing the food supply of Scotland.

“These are issues that are all part and parcel of the intergovernmental discussions that are taking place between the Scottish and United Kingdom government.”

But he insisted the UK Government needs to do more to involve his government in talks on the issue.

He raised the issue directly in a letter to the PM on Friday, with the First Minister also complaining that the Scottish Government had not been invited to participate in a recent Cobra meeting on the issue.

Speaking on Saturday Mr Swinney said: “I made that point to the Prime Minister in a letter last night because the arrangements set out to me are not satisfactory.

“I think there needs to be engaged ministerial discussion.

“We weren’t invited to the Cobra meeting for example that looked at these questions, it is not proposed we are going to be invited to the ministerial discussion going on within the United Kingdom government and I think that is a big mistake by the Prime Minister.”

He said he had “requested from the Prime Minister that the Scottish Government is actively involved at ministerial level in those discussions so we can represent the concerns and perspectives of relevant interests and parties in Scotland”.

Mr Swinney was clear that discussions between the two governments on the issue need to be “intensified”.

The First Minister added: “I want to see them involving the Scottish Government in a fashion that is much more deeply involved than has been the case in the past, it is a vital part of ensuring we are looking after the interests of Scotland, which is always my priority.

“I have had one intergovernmental call on the Iranian situation.

“I think the issues need to be of a more intense dialogue.”

Setting out that he had written to Sir Keir because he was “not satisfied with the existing discussions that are in place”, Mr Swinney said he hoped the Prime Minister would “respond positively”.

This he said was necessary because the concerns raised by farmers are “a vivid representation of the fact that these issues are very real for communities in Scotland and for stakeholders in Scotland”.

Mr Swinney insisted: “I think there needs to be much more intense dialogue about these questions, and there must be engaged information sharing.”

The UK Government has been contacted for comment.