Seòmar agus comataidhean

Please bear with me while I find where I am in my notes.

The provision that I mentioned is narrower because those are the only ways in which we can foresee muirburn being required. Given the way in which amendments 25 and 26 are worded, they would also allow a muirburn licence to be granted for the purpose of “managing the natural environment” on peatland outwith the muirburn season. That has the potential to undermine the intention behind the majority of the muirburn provisions in the bill.

For those reasons, I hope that Edward Mountain is assured that the points that he sought to make with his amendments are already covered and that he will see that his amendments 25 and 26 are unnecessary. I hope, therefore, that he does not move them.

Amendment 40 would change the regulation-making power in section 16 so that, if the Scottish ministers wanted to amend the muirburn season dates through secondary legislation

“for the purpose of ... preventing, or reducing the risk of, wildfires causing harm to people or damage to property”,

they would need to do so while

“taking into account conditions in particular geographic areas.”

I hope that what I say on that will also provide Edward Mountain with some assurance. That amendment is unnecessary, because the bill already sets out that the power to change the muirburn season dates can be used to make different provisions for different purposes, different land and different years. Therefore, the bill already provides the ability for regulations to make different provisions depending on the type of land, which could include land that is or is not at a high risk of wildfire, so I am not convinced that the amendment is necessary. However, I undertake to give it further consideration ahead of stage 3, particularly to ensure that the purpose of the regulation is sufficiently clear. I therefore ask Edward Mountain not to move amendment 40.

Kate Forbes’s amendments 101 and 102 seek to mitigate biodiversity loss. I recognise the importance of biodiversity and the urgent need for action at all levels—here, elsewhere in the UK and internationally—to tackle the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change and to ensure a nature-positive net zero world. By moving the end of the muirburn season back two weeks, we will give red-listed ground-nesting birds the chance that they need to breed and produce successful clutches. I have also heard from rural stakeholders and recognise the need for muirburn to be undertaken in the right way.

For the reasons that Ms Forbes has set out, the balance is the key, and I believe that amendments 101 and 102 strike the right balance between responding to the changes to the nesting season arising from climate change and ensuring that essential muirburn activity can continue. For those reasons, I will support Kate Forbes’s amendments 101 and 102, and I encourage members to vote for them.

Ariane Burgess’s amendment 167 would go further than amendment 102 by moving the end of the season to 15 March. As the committee heard during stage 1, there are a range of opinions on when the muirburn season should close. The effect of closing the season on 15 March would be to significantly reduce the muirburn season, which would result in less time for muirburn to be carried out for the broader range of purposes, including managing for grouse or livestock grazing.

For that reason and for the reasons that Kate Forbes has given, I believe that amendment 167 would not be proportionate or achieve the right balance. However, I assure Ariane Burgess that the bill includes a power to change the muirburn season dates, which would allow us to respond to any new evidence that comes to light in future around shifting patterns of nesting or the impacts of climate change. I hope that that reassures Ariane Burgess and that she does not move her amendment. If she does, I encourage the committee to vote against it.

On Rhoda Grant’s amendment 168, as the previous minister and I have explained on a number of occasions in relation to other similar amendments, the proposed changes are not necessary. The amendment would impose an unnecessary additional burden on the Scottish Parliament when established procedures are already in place for making changes through secondary legislation. The amendment could lead to unnecessary delays in amending the muirburn season dates, which could have consequences for the natural environment.

Medicated grit was part of what the Werritty review considered. Some people would like us to remove medicated grit entirely—there is a very big campaign to do that—but we believe that, on balance, to ensure that grouse moors can function as grouse moors, having medicated grit in the code of practice is helpful to all parties.

Alastair Sim outlined some of the barriers for European citizens to come here. Is there the same level or a higher bar of participation for UK folk to go to Europe, if it is the other way about?

This might be a really stupid question—I am new to this subject today—but what have been the implications of missing the deadline relating to the electricity trading arrangements?

Thank you.

Given that Edward Mountain has mentioned me, I should point out that I have never in my life set a snare during lambing time. I leave that to people who are trained to do it. It is therefore a bit disingenuous to make a comparison involving a sheep farmer setting snares at night.

Certainly not at lambing time.

Precisely.

Will the member give way?

Will the member give way?