The past week puts everything in my portfolio into a slightly different light; my portfolio and possibly the rural economy portfolio are the two that are most heavily impacted by the EU. Just about every aspect of what we do will have to be seen against the new backdrop.
Our starting point must be that the best way of solving anything other than very local environmental issues is to co-operate across national boundaries and that solutions need to be developed in a common framework. Whatever shape that takes does not change the fundamental necessity.
The European Union has been the mechanism by which that common approach has been taken. It has provided strategic policy direction for environmental measures and for many of the laws that this Parliament has passed. Laws to protect the environment have been made in the framework of EU legislation.
Last week’s referendum does not change the force of our domestic law, in which regulation and protection are embedded. Our regulatory bodies—the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage and others—will continue to regulate and protect us and will continue to do what they need to do to effect the outcomes that we consider to be necessary. As the cabinet secretary, I will continue to work across the Government to take forward important policy and legislation that gives effect to that.
We are in the very early stages of mapping all the different impacts on different policy areas and assessing how quickly they might be felt. That is a big unknown for us. The convener mentioned the SRDP; there are also structural funds. Organisations and our environment benefit enormously from money that comes directly from the EU, and we do not know what the future of that funding will be.
There are certain uncertainties that are not easy for us to calculate at the moment, but understanding our exposure will be important. We will have to do work on that not only in my portfolio but across the Government.
Of course, we remain in the EU, so EU rules and obligations continue to apply—we cannot simply behave as if they do not exist. The timescale for our remaining in the EU is uncertain and looks as if it might continue to be uncertain for quite a while.
I will not pre-empt what the First Minister is to say in her statement this afternoon, when there will be a debate on the EU in the chamber, in which a lot of general issues will probably come up. We must have a twofold focus—we must continue to govern competently and we must protect Scotland’s interests and our place in the EU. That is for the Government as a whole, but it is also for each cabinet secretary to consider within their portfolio.
We are in uncharted territory and we will not have answers to a lot of questions. I regret that my response this morning may be that there are questions that I simply cannot answer. However, I give you the reassurance that we will be doing our absolute utmost to protect our position as climate change leaders, to continue to play the role that we have been playing in contributing to EU-wide environment policies, and to make sure that we maintain, protect and advance our own environment. We can get through this, but to pretend that it will be simple and straightforward would be to mislead everybody.