The Scottish Government has called for a “fair solution” to current red meat levy legislation, which sees money from Scottish-reared animals being collected elsewhere in the UK at the point of slaughter.

Under the current rules, Scotland loses out on up to £1.5m in levy money from beef cattle, sheep and pigs each year, with nearly £12m lost out on in total, according to Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.

Mr Ewing stressed that a “solution that recognises the scale of economic activity undertaken by the red meat sector across the UK, rather than simply where the animal is slaughtered” must be included within the UK government’s recently announced Agriculture Bill.

Commenting on the need for new legislation NFU Scotland livestock committee chair Charlie Adam added: “There will clearly be priority areas where Scotland would like to see more being spent and repatriating Scottish levy back to QMS would allow the Scottish industry to invest more in its future.”