Farming: Delay to post-EU subsidy scheme Elms not acceptable say farmers

Farmers have called on the government to clarify what post-EU support they will receive to improve the environment, six years after the Brexit vote.

Cambridgeshire famer Martin Lines said he felt "let down" by government delay.

After the UK left the EU, instead of European subsidies a replacement scheme was proposed for farmers, but this has been put back.

The government said it was right to review the scheme.

Farmers are seeking certainty from the government over post-EU subsidies

On Thursday, new Environment Secretary and Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey confirmed that the review of the Environmental Land Management Scheme (Elms) was complete and further clarity on the scheme would be announced early in the new year.

The Elms payments, which cover England, will replace the EU scheme for agriculture where subsidies were mostly on the basis of the amount of land farmed.

Alongside payments for sustainable farming practices such as managing soils, Elms was designed to pay for "local nature recovery" habitat creation on farms and "landscape recovery" projects to restore nature at a large scale, including rewilding schemes.

Therese Coffey is the new Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

In her speech at the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) conference, Ms Coffey said: "I am committed to giving you the clarity, certainty and support that I know you need, so early in the new year - I can't make the announcements today - we will be saying more about what we'll be offering to pay you to do in the next phase of all the schemes."

Martin Lines, who farms about 900 acres (364 hectares) near St Neots in Cambridgeshire, said: "Moving to a scheme that rewards positive action I've been really supportive of and quite vocally supportive of.

"But I feel quite let down by the government for the lack of information and clarity to help the whole farm industry transition to something better."

Mr Lines, who is part of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, added: "They [the government] should get a move on and give us some clarity, give us some real certainty and ambition within the schemes to get to where we all need to get to in the next 10 years."

Martin Lines, who farms land near St Neots in Cambridgeshire, has criticised the government

Essex farmer Tom Bradshaw, who is also deputy president of the National Farmers' Union, said: "The latest delay is simply not acceptable. We've had six years to get to this point and we're still kicking the can down the road.

"Members' payments have been reduced and we were always told they would not be reduced until there was another scheme in place."

Farming minister Mark Spencer told BBC Politics East: "I think it is quite reasonable to make sure that the schemes we are going to roll out help us as a nation deliver on our carbon commitments and make sure we are improving the environment, improving our biodiversity.

"I think it is reasonable to say when a new secretary of state comes in, she has to have a window of opportunity just to review and make sure that the schemes are going to deliver these outcomes, as we want this to work."

Farming minister Mark Spencer said the government was working on a scheme to help Britain deliver its carbon commitments

You can see more on this story on Politics East on BBC One on Sunday, 4 December at 10:00 GMT, with it also available on BBC iPlayer afterwards.