At present, farmers receive subsidies and other payments under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
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In a major announcement that has been welcomed by the farmers union, Chancellor Philip Hammond conceded that many organisations across the United Kingdom which are in receipt of EU funding, or expect to start receiving funding, need reassurances about the flow of money they will receive.
“Clearly if we stopped making contributions to the European Union there will be money available to be invested in our own economy”, Hammond said when reporters asked about Britain’s funding arrangements after Britain’s departure from the EU.
The Treasury is expected to announce that all structural and investment fund projects signed before the chancellor’s Autumn Statement later this year will be fully funded, even when these projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.
“The government will also match the current level of agricultural funding until 2020, providing certainty to our agricultural community, which play a vital role in our country”, Hammond said.
The Treasury said it would assess whether to guarantee funding for certain projects “that might be signed after the Autumn Statement, but while we remain a member of the EU”.
“We now need to ensure that future deals on tariffs and market access ensure that we have a strong and vibrant domestic farming industry”.
There had been fears that Scotland could miss out on up more than £5 billion in funding by 2020 as a result of Brexit, with cash already in the pipeline thrown into doubt by the European Union referendum result.
The government has pledged to fill the shortfall with public money until at least 2020, which based on the projections that Brexit will take two years, means the United Kingdom government will make up a two-year shortfall.
“Major funding streams such as contracts for EU structural funds and European Maritime Fisheries projects beginning after the Autumn Statement have no guarantee of continuation at all”.
Professor Dame Anne Glover, dean for Europe at Aberdeen University, said: “The statement by Phil Hammond delivers some certainty around H2020 funding until the United Kingdom leaves the EU”. Along with this there were dire warnings of businesses leaving the Country and a financial collapse.
He called for an extension of the guarantee to projects that gain approval after the Autumn Statement. “It is therefore a strong signal that will give confidence to businesses considering their future in a hard agricultural market”.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “This guarantee of funding is excellent news for our farmers and our environment”.
A National Trust spokesman said: “We welcome the Government’s decision to continue with funding for newly agreed and existing agri-environment schemes”.
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“Yet, all that is clear with this announcement is that the uncertainty will continue”. The Chancellor is expected to develop a new scheme to support farmers once the United Kingdom quits the EU. We certainly should not now see funding and investment in communities hammered as a result of Brexit.
