DEFRA halting incentives another “outrageous” attack on farming communities

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

Responding to DEFRA halting new applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP said:

“This is nothing short of outrageous and another attack on farming communities by this government.

“There is no hiding that this is a real cut and will come as a body blow for farmers. Farmers who are already losing the vast majority of basic payments this year and who should rightly be rewarded for good environmental work.

“Make no mistake, it will be the smaller farmers who will be hardest hit - especially hill farmers and those on significantly less than the minimum wage.

“Labour are compounding the damage done to our farmers by the Conservatives who left the farming budget with an underspend of hundreds of millions. This is a huge hit to our food security and to farmers’ efforts to protect our environment. This is a continuation of the Tory attacks on farm payments and amounts to a betrayal.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Reporting on the halting of new applications can be found here.