Blackford hammers Gove over farm cash

LOCHABER MP Ian Blackford has blasted the Westminster Tory government, saying Scottish farmers will likely now lose out on hundreds of millions of pounds in convergence funding owed to them because the money has already been spent.

Mr Blackford said this became clear in his meeting, as SNP Westminster group leader, with Secretary of State for Rural Affairs Michael Gove.

Slamming it as a ‘blatant and shocking U-turn’, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber said despite promises to review it as far back as 2014 – reiterated in 2016 and 2017 – it now seems the UK government is not committed to keeping those promises and shows that the Tories ‘are not to be trusted’.

In a letter to Mr Gove, Mr Blackford has asked for clarity on comments made suggesting money intended for Scottish farmers had in fact gone to Welsh, Northern Irish and English farmers instead.

‘Scottish farmers are set to lose £160 million in funding because the UK government is breaking its promise to review convergence uplifting funding,’ Mr Blackford told us.

‘The UK government only received this convergence funding because the payment rates in Scotland were historically much lower than elsewhere in the UK and among the lowest in Europe. The money was provided to address this – it belongs to Scottish farming.’