EU cannot be serious
Anger over plan to force UK farmers to display pro-Brussels billboards
A SCHEME forcing farmers to display signs if they receive EU funding is ‘insulting’ to British taxpayers, campaigners said yesterday.
New regulations mean landowners who receive money from Brussels to protect the countryside must erect billboards and so- called ‘gratitude plaques’, or pay the money back.
Eurosceptics warned the signs would blight the countryside the EU cash was supposed to protect, and would form part of the ‘EU propaganda machine’ ahead of the referendum on Britain’s membership.
Campaign group Get Britain Out said it was ‘ridiculous’ to force farmers to celebrate European grants which represent the return of a fraction of Britain’s overall financial contribution to the EU.
Thousands of farmers and landowners have been told they must put up permanent billboards to advertise the fact that they have received European funding.
Under the new rules, those who get more than £388,250 from the Countryside Stewardship scheme, part of the Common Agricultural Policy, will have to display a 6ft by 4ft billboard ‘at a location readily visible to the public’. Those given more than £38,825 must put up a plaque of at least one square foot and anyone who receives more than £7,765 must display an A3 poster.
Recipients of the money must pay for the costs of the signs themselves, and if they fail to display them they face fines or having their funding clawed back.
The Countryside Stewardship scheme awards cash to landowners and farmers to improve the countryside by planting trees, protecting heathland or restoring lakes or other natural features.
But eurosceptics said the EU was effectively using the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as a ‘stranglehold’ to force farmers into displaying its propaganda.
Jayne Adye, director of crossparty campaign group Get Britain Out, said the UK was predicted to contribute £14.5billion to the EU during this financial year, but would only receive £4.1billion back. She said: ‘It seems ridiculous that the EU is forcing UK farmers and landowners to celebrate the fact they are giving us part of our financial contributions back.
‘It is an insult to British taxpayers that more of our money will be wasted putting up large signs to effectively advertise the EU in the run-up to the referendum.
‘The signs will blight the landscape and give the impression that farmers and landowners are major supporters of the EU. In actual fact they are being forced to do so due to the stranglehold the EU has over the UK’s agricultural sector through the CAP.’
Stuart Agnew, a Ukip MEP and the party’s agriculture spokesman, said: ‘It is outrageous that farmers are obliged to get involved in the EU propaganda machine when this money came from the British taxpayer.’ The Countryside Stewardship scheme was introduced this summer to replace an existing sys- tem and has already faced criticism for being overcomplicated.
East Sussex sheep farmer Martin Hole told Farmers Weekly he would have to produce 400 photographs of his fields if he wanted to support an application. Around 2,300 landowners have applied for money so far, compared to 11,000 under the old system, and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) warned that British wildlife could suffer as a result.
Its president Henry Robinson said: ‘In principle, we welcome initiatives that increase awareness that our natural environment needs to be carefully managed and cared for, and that this important work requires financial support.
‘However, the complex requirements of the new Countryside Stewardship scheme have been putting land managers off applying for the scheme. The requirement to put up posters or billboards must not be too onerous or costly for those who manage our landscapes.’
Landowners said they were waiting for guidance from the Government about whether the EU signs would require planning permission.