Mundell welcomes Gove’s commitment on funding
Hidden among six hours of political point-scoring and a constant use of the possessive by MPS when referring to farmers during the Westminster parliamentary debate this week was a promise that existing methods of funding to devolved nations would continue in the future
UK agriculture minister Michael Gove stated that “agricultural funding will not be ‘Barnettised’, and the generous – rightly generous – settlement that gives Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales more than England will be defended.”
In his reaction to this jargon-coated pledge, Scottish Secretary, David Mundell described it as great news for Scottish farmers.
He said: “Under the present arrangements, Scotland receives twice as much money for farming support than might be expected were the Barnett formula alone used to determine allocations.
“So Michael Gove’s commitment that future agriculture funding will not be Barnettised should be welcomed across the board.”
NFU Scotland cautiously welcomed the news
with their policy manager, Claire Slipper, stating this was the first time that a UK
minister had said on the record that future agricultural funding allocations would be ringfenced.
However, she added in her blog to union members that the big issue was where about would the funding settlement be set?
Mundell said that more details of future support arrangements would be announced shortly, but he believed the latest guarantee reinforced the UK government’s commitment to Scottish farmers.
He said: “It comes with the UK government already having agreed to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support for Scotland until 2022.”