Scottish farmers ‘are owed millions’

The SNP has demanded answers from the UK agriculture minister, claiming the UK government has £160 million of EU payments “owed” to Scottish farmers.

Robert Goodwill was pressed for an explanation ahead of his visit to a farminaberdeenshireyesterday.

The SNP and Scottish farming organisations argue Scotland is owed £190m of EU convergence uplift payments to the UK for the period 2014 to 2020.

The convergence cash was triggered due to the low rate of common agricultural policy payments given to Scottish hill farmers. Aimed at distributing the subsidies more fairly based on average euros per hectare, the UK only qualified for the payments through Scotland. England, Wales and Northern Ireland were all above the threshold.

By May 2018 the UK government had allocated around £30m of the uplift payments to Scotland, with the rest distributed around the UK, leading to allegations the money has been “stolen” from Scotland’s farmers, which the UK government denies.

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokeswoman said: “We are also committed to fair funding for agriculture across the UK.”