ALISTER Jack is to call on Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee to probe the Scottish Government’s rejection of new gene-editing legislation.

Last week, environment secretary Màiri McAllan said Scotland would not adopt the reforms to regulations proposed in the UK government’s proposed Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill.

Mr Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland and George Eustice, the Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, food and rural affairs, had asked the minister to consider backing the new law so that the relatively new technology could be used on both sides of the border. They said the technology could help "tackle the challenges of our age.”

A leading scientific adviser has warned that the Scottish government is out of kilter with scientists in resisting the introduction of gene edited food. Professor Anne Glover, a former chief scientific adviser to the devolved administration, intervened after the SNP/Green government rejected calls to allow disease-resistant gene edited crops, which could help to avoid food shortages.

While the UK government and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) support the idea, which could also lead to tomatoes with boosted levels of vitamin D appearing in shops, the Scottish government argues that it could hinder exports to Europe.

The British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) has warned the UK Government’s gene editing legislation will ‘fail to address food security goals’ as currently drafted.

In a briefing sent to MPs in advance of the Bill’s second reading in the House of Commons, the BSPB said plant breeders and scientists were concerned that a provision allowing Ministers to impose new traceability and food and feed safety risk assessments would ‘add unnecessary requirements and costs’ to the use of gene editing techniques.

The group went on to describe the ‘GM-style regulatory hurdles’, which do not apply to conventionally bred crop varieties, as ‘not scientifically justified’. It raised concerns that their introduction could adversely affect plans for investment in the UK and reduce access to the environmental and economic benefits gene editing can deliver.

Agricultural science funding is set to become a casualty of the rapidly escalating row over the UK Government’s plans to unliterally change the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The European Union sees the proposals, announced on Monday (June 13) by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, as breaking an internationally recognised treaty and is certain to retaliate. A trade war is one possible outcome, although both sides are reluctant to embark on such a course of action during a cost of living crisis.

A more immediate measure may well be denying the UK access to the next round of the flagship Horizon Europe Programme, with the EU’s ambassador to London, Joao Vale de Almeida, already saying he ‘regretted’ that researchers would be ‘collateral damage’ in the dispute.

Food prices will rise quickly this summer due to soaring costs, grocery analysts have predicted. Prices will rise at a rate of 15% as households pay more for staples such as bread, meat, dairy and fruit and vegetables, the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) said.

More vulnerable people will skip meals, it warned. It also predicted that prices would rise faster for longer than Bank of England estimates.

The IGD, which provides analysis to major grocers, said the UK was facing the highest cost of living pressures since the 1970s, mainly down to the Ukraine war.

The government has pledged to boost the level of food the UK produces in light of Russia's war in Ukraine and the impact it is having on global supplies. Farmers will be issued more support to bolster domestic food production as part of the government's long-awaited food strategy, unveiled today (13 June).

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the blueprint set out "how we will back farmers, boost British industry and help protect people against the impacts of future economic shocks by safeguarding our food security".

The strategy commits to 'broadly maintaining' the current level of UK food production, while boosting production in certain sectors, such as horticulture. And £270 million will be invested across farming innovation funding programmes until 2029 "to unlock technologies to drive sustainable farming techniques".

Scotland should not have food products "forced" on it because of the easing of regulations around gene editing, a government minister has said.

The UK government has introduced a Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill which would set different rules from the EU following Brexit. It had asked Holyrood ministers to consider allowing gene-edited crops to be grown in Scotland.

But the idea has been dismissed by environment secretary Mairi McAllan. She has written to UK environment secretary George Eustice and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, saying Scotland would not make the same changes as England if the bill passed.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Wednesday issued two variety certification standards at the national level for genetically modified (GM) crops, including soybeans and corn, in what industry observers said a significant step in China's legalization of GM crops as the country seeks to further bolster its food security.

The move reduces the approval period for such varieties, which will pave the way for further commercialization in one of the world's top crop-producing countries.

Northern Ireland is set to miss out on Britain’s gene-edited crops revolution because of the Brexit treaty that created the Irish Sea border.

While the rest of the UK plans to use its new Brexit freedoms to benefit from cheaper and more resilient harvests, the Northern Ireland Protocol effectively bans gene-edited crops.

Edwin Poots, the Northern Ireland agriculture minister and former DUP leader, said: “This issue once again further highlights the unworkable nature of the Protocol for the agri-food sector.”

Scotland will be “left behind” if Nicola Sturgeon continues to reject groundbreaking gene editing technology for crops, a leading scientist has warned.

Prof Joyce Tait, a founding director of the Innogen Institute at the University of Edinburgh, called on the SNP to drop its opposition to new scientific techniques she said were completely safe and could help combat climate change.