Agricultural funding will not be Barnettised

SINCE the EU referendum the FUW has been lobbying for a fair post-Brexit allocation of rural funding for Wales outside the Barnett Formula.

We have raised the issue consistently with the UK Government as well as in evidence to Parliamentary and Welsh Assembly inquiries, and in July we issued our Filling the Void document setting out the arguments for ring-fenced national allocations which fairly reflect national needs.

We were therefore pleased to hear Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove, during the second reading of Agriculture Bill, say that agricultural funding will not be Barnettised, and the current settlement which allocates money to Wales on rural and agricultural criteria will be maintained.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns has also reinforced that commitment giving further hope to the farming community in Wales.

As expected, an independent advisory panel will look at what factors should determine the distribution of agriculture funding between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in this Parliament.

This will consider each country’s individual circumstances, including environmental, agricultural and socio-economic factors. Farm numbers and farm sizes will also be taken into account to make sure all parts of the UK are treated fairly.

The review, led by Lord Bew of Donegore, will provide recommendations for how the annual amount of convergence funding is fairly split between the four countries in the remainder of this Parliament once the UK has left the Common Agricultural Policy.

There can be absolutely no doubt that direct support, which underpins safe, top-quality food production, must be maintained to avoid causing irreparable damage to Wales.

As such, we welcome the decision to set up a review of allocations based on environmental, agricultural and socio-economic factors, and look forward to discussing Wales’s priorities with Lord Bew.