Multi-million pound boost for Scottish farmers

Farmers in Scotland will receive a £211.4 million boost, the Prime Minister will announce today (Friday 6th September).

Making the announcement ahead of visiting a farm in Aberdeenshire, Boris Johnson will set out how Scottish farmers will receive an extra £51.4 million over the next two years, in addition to the £160 million allocated in the Spending Round on Wednesday.

The £51.4 million pot of new money comes as the Lord Bew Review of farm funding is published today. The Prime Minister confirmed that the UK Government will accept the funding recommendations of this review, making sure farm funding is fairly allocated across the country within the Government’s funding commitment and that the industry is ready for a prosperous future outside of the EU.

To implement Lord Bew’s recommendations, while making sure farmers in England and Northern Ireland are not penalised and their funding allocations are unchanged, the UK Government will commit over £56 million of new money, including over £5 million for farmers in Wales.

Today’s announcement is in addition to the one-off £160 million payment announced in the Spending Round. Delivering on one of the PM’s leadership pledges for Scottish farmers, this will end the longstanding dispute over EU ‘convergence’ funding. Scottish farmers have consistently argued this should have been allocated to them in 2014, rather than distributed across the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

For too long, Scottish farmers have been given a poor deal by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, which is why we are taking this opportunity to change things for the better. I made a pledge to resolve the historic funding gap for Scottish farmers and delivering on this promise has been a priority since I became Prime Minister.

Today’s announcement was the first step in making sure future funding is fairly allocated across the UK, taking into account the unique farming environments in Scotland. Once we are out of the EU, we will have a historic opportunity to introduce new schemes to support farmers – and we will make sure that Scottish farmers get a fairer deal.

NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick said:

On top of the Chancellor’s welcome announcement in his spending review that Scotland is to receive £160m in convergence funding, we welcome the positive outcome of the Bew Review into future funding allocations and Government’s speedy response to the review’s recommendations.

Taken together, the two announcements will inject £211 million into Scottish agriculture over the next two years. At a time of uncertainty, that represents the largest funding uplift for the sector in recent memory.

Securing a fair agricultural funding settlement that recognised the flaws in the historic approach has been a priority for NFU Scotland. We thank Lord Bew for undertaking this review and his conclusions on how agricultural funding should be allocated. We also thank former NFUS President Jim Walker for the tenacity he showed as the Scottish representative on the Bew review group, and the significant contribution he has made to ensuring future agricultural spending fairly represents the convergence settlement.

Scotland Secretary Alister Jack said:

This £211.4 million UK Government cash injection for Scottish farmers is a brilliant double boost.

Not only has the Prime Minister delivered on his promise to address their longstanding concerns by providing £160 million in historic convergence funding, the UK Government has now also confirmed that Scottish farmers will receive an extra £51.4 million over the next two years in response to the Bew Review recommendations.

I’m absolutely delighted by this result and know our hard working farmers across Scotland will welcome it warmly.

Leaving the EU will give us an historic opportunity to tailor support better to Scotland’s unique farming environment. This is something I’ve lobbied for as a backbench MP and will continue to pursue as Scotland Secretary.