Following yesterday’s (25 November) Spending Review, titles such as The Scotsman, Nation Cymru, The Pig Site and Financial Times have reported on concerns over continued funding to protect and maintain the current budgets of our farmers.
There is a clear manifesto commitment to maintain the current annual budget for farmers across the United Kingdom in every year of this Parliament and this budget was confirmed for 2021/22 in the Spending Review.
The manifesto commitment is also greater than what was spent on average each year under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
We are in regular contact with the Devolved Administrations over ensuring farmers across the UK receive a fair share of funding.
A UK Government spokesperson said:
We have a manifesto commitment to maintain the current annual budget for farmers in every year of this Parliament. That is what we are doing.
While the amount of remaining EU funding varies across the UK, we have adopted a consistent approach to ensure that no one loses out.
With the passing of the landmark Agriculture Bill, the government will be able to seize opportunities for our farmers now that we have left the EU. This Act champions the needs of all of our farmers and gives the UK the powers to provide a much needed boost to the industry after years of inefficient and overly bureaucratic policy dictated to farmers by the EU.
1 comment
Comment by Roger Cartwright posted on
There remains concern about ELMS - the impression is that the present Countryside Stewardship scheme has been allowed to decline from a previous highpoint. What steps are the government taking to create an effective well staffed organisation able to transfer from existing work, including the RPA and run this new scheme?