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It might not surprise the witnesses that my questions follow on quite well from the points that Mr Berman just made.

You mentioned the idea of a price link between the UK and EU emissions trading schemes. You also talked about skills in relation to clean energy infrastructure, and about multiregion loose volume coupling being the solution to efficient electricity trading, which sounds like a wonderfully geeky subject that I will have to read more about.

Those are current issues. I ask that you look ahead as we consider the other changes that need to happen for us to transition to a sustainable energy system. What in the current arrangements might inhibit that transition? What aspects of a review—whether that is decarbonisation of heat, where the skills and experience of other European countries are decades ahead of that of the UK, whether that is building more transmission connections between the UK and other European countries or whether that is the emergence of something such as green hydrogen, the production and export of which could play a significant role—might help to resolve the issues that we will encounter?

Could I break in at this point? Would you go as far as to say that there should not be two separate systems?

That is really helpful; thank you.

Mr Bain, do you have anything to add from the British Chambers of Commerce point of view?

This is happening at a time when we need to be learning from the skills of countries that build homes to the energy performance that cold northern European countries require, which Scotland has not been doing.

Are there any other perspectives on the same question about the long-term impact and the role that the restoration of youth mobility might have in ameliorating at least some of the harmful effects?

Is there anything to add from the computer science perspective?

Clearly, there has been an immediate impact on the operation of businesses that work in your sectors, whether that relates to their ability to access work in European countries, share skills or in other ways. I will ask about the long-term impact of those barriers not just on folk who work in the sector but on how those sectors will develop if there is no movement and no youth mobility in particular. Who will come into those professions? How will they develop their skills? In what way will their networks with folk in other European countries develop or get hampered if there is no progress on restoring youth mobility? How much of an impact will that have in relation to how your professions develop in Scotland? How much benefit would be gained in relation to the development of those professions were some that youth mobility to be restored?

I have a question for Ben Addy. We have a written submissions from RIAS. As RIAS was producing evidence for a Scottish Parliament committee and our job is to scrutinise the Scottish Government, most of the content of the last section on the way forward is about what the Government can do to try to support the sector or mitigate some of the damage that has been done. I appreciate that, but I wonder whether there is already an established or emerging view from the wider sector across the UK, including in Scotland, about the changes that the UK Government should pursue with the EU. Is a view emerging about specific changes that you seek to advocate for to improve or—as the UK Government sometimes says—to reset the relationship with Europe and to remove some of the barriers that have been put up?

I imagine that the sector that you represent, Vivienne Mackinnon, has a strong view on whether veterinary agreements, and on whether—this is way beyond my level of expertise—sanitary and phytosanitary measures, which cover everything that affects issues with a food or a biological component, should be a political objective for the UK Government.

It is interesting that you use a phrase like “keep our borders safe”, which many politicians often use to mean keeping out people who could make a contribution. Biological threats pay no respect to borders. We need those skills and capacities to tackle those real threats.