Gove offers budget clarification – but no deal on convergence
The undertaking by the UK government to maintain support spending at current levels through to 2022 will cover all payments in Pillar I and Pillar II, including elements such as forestry, and it will remain ring-fenced to the rural sector.
These were two of the points of clarification made yesterday when Environment Secretary Michael Gove gave evidence to two Holyrood committees.
But while he indicated that Scotland would continue to get its current 16 per cent share of the overall budget, he refused to be tied down over the promised review of controversial convergence issue and the current share of this £190 million fund.
While Gove gave the impression that there was little likelihood of any of the funding already paid out being clawed back and paid out to Scottish farmers, he promised the Scottish Parliament’s rural economy committee that the issue would be built into future calculations.
0 Gove: Lynx reintroduction ‘raises a barrel-load of issues’
“What we need to do is concentrate on the future and make sure that we allocate monies fairly. What we are not doing is clawing money back but what we are doing is acknowledging that good arguments were made at the time.”
Answering allegations that his apparent reluctance to give evidence to the committee – with the cancellation of previous planned sessions – had hampered its ability to properly scrutinise the working of the Scottish Government’s rural policymakers, Gove pointed out that information on key issues such as total budget provision had been available for several weeks. l In an earlier session with the environment, climate change and land reform committee, Gove expressed his support for the reintroduction of species – but added: “Lynx, however, raises a whole barrel-load of other issues of which I’m all too aware.”
But while he stated that it would be for Natural England, as the appropriate body he said that “quite a high bar” in the form of assurances, including to local farmers, would have to be crossed before permission was given for release of the animals.