SOUTH Scotland SNP MSP Emma Harper has written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves demanding that previously ringfenced funding for Scotland’s farmers is reinstated.
The budget overhauls the way post-EU agricultural funding is delivered to the devolved governments.
Under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers in Scotland received billions of pounds of support from the EU, guaranteed on a multi-year basis. This funding supports food production and food security for us in Scotland and the wider UK.
Since Brexit, CAP funding has been replaced by separate devolved schemes, with ringfencing designed to protect the larger proportion of money spent in Scotland – Scotland had previously received around 17 per cent of the UK’s CAP funding, as Scotland has a proportionally larger farming sector.
However, in the recent UK budget, this ringfencing was axed, with Scotland’s funding now delivered through the Barnett formula instead.
Ms Harper pointed out this has reduced Scotland’s share – and she wants it reinstating.
Her joint letter with colleagues says: “We are writing to call for the restoration of ringfenced multi-annual funding for Scotland’s farmers and crofters.
“By scrapping ringfencing in the most recent budget, Labour have ensured Scotland’s farmers will receive less funding than they do now – and less certainty, as your government has only committed to maintain the scheme in England until next year.
“We would urge you to reconsider this decision – and re-instate ringfenced multi-annual funding for Scotland’s farmers and crofters.”
They await a reply from Downing Street.
