French fury

If we were ever in any doubt that British taxpayers were underwriting French farmers, we have now got the clear evidence. The European Commission has just unveiled its thoughts on the post-brexit budget challenges, not least of which appears to be their contention that the UK’S departure will leave a €25 billion (£21.9bn) funding gap. Their response to this is to suggest that France, the biggest user of the bloc’s agriculture funds for decades, should co-finance the Common Agriculture Poliagain cy in future. Imagine how that will go down in France!

In the distribution of Common Agricultural Policy funds, France tops the list ahead of Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece. Should the idea gain any political traction at all, it remains to be seen how President Emmanuel Macron will sell it to the French farmers, many of whom have already become stalwarts of mass protests in Brussels. We can expect the boulevards of Paris shortly to be blocked by tractors driven by angry French farmers!

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) swallows up 40 per cent of the entire EU annual budget, delivering billions in subsidies to European farmers. Ironically, it was Michel Barnier, as a former French Agriculture Minister and European Commissioner, who was one of the key champions of this subsidy tsunami. Now he has been appointed as the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator, we can expect that he will be nursing a serious grudge against the Brits for pulling out of Europe and leaving his beloved French farmers with such a hole in their handouts. STRUAN STEVENSON

Chief Executive Scottish Business UK Ballantrae, Girvan, Ayrshire