Gove under fire over ‘watered-down’ review
Fears that the UK government plans to “water down” the review looking into the long-running dispute over the allocation of EU convergence funds have drawn an angry reaction from Scotland’s rural economy secretary.
The issue –which has been an open sore between the Scottish and UK governments since 2013– concerns the allocation of EU funds made available to the UK in order to increase Scotland’s low area payments. And while Scottish farmers and ministers believed the package, worth £190 million over six years, should have been allocated to Scotland in its entirety, the UK government shared it out across the UK on a pro-rata basis, with Scotland receiving only £30m.
After attracting considerable publicity in the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum, a promise was given that the allocation decision would be re-visited once measures in the then on-going reform of farm support measures had bedded in.
So far this promise has not been fulfilled. However, the terms of reference
for conducting the review were drawn up between the current UK Secretary, of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, and Scotland’s rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing earlier this year.
But Ewing yesterday claimed that the UK government has now proposed a significantly watered-down remit that excludes any consideration of past decisions, and will only look at funding allocations up until 2022.
Stating that the review had to look both at the past and at the future, Ewing yesterday said that the issue had taken on even greater importance as Post-brexit funding was likely to be based on current allocations.
“It is essential that the convergence issue is resolved so that Scottish farmers are treated fairly in any future funding arrangement between the UK and devolved governments,” said Ewing.
In a letter to Gove, he said that proposals to exclude payment during the 2014220 period were unacceptable, as was limiting the future allocations up to 2022 – moves which Ewing said rendered the whole exercise almost worthless.
Speaking during a visit to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, NFU Scotland president Andrew Mccornick said indications were that the review would not live up to what had been promised by a succession of UK government ministers.
Stating that it was the union’s “unequivocal view” that Scotland’s low payments had triggered the award, he said that the review must cover postbrexit agricultural support:
“Base-lining future funding allocations beyond the current parliament and existing UK government commitments to 2022 is an essential cornerstone on which Scotland will build its future agricultural policy,” he said.