Cut The Cost Of The CAP (West Worcestershire Liberal Democrats)

West Worcestershire Liberal Democrats <contact.us@westworcslibdems.org.uk>

Cut The Cost Of The CAP

August 10, 2009 10:21 PM

Richard Burt is calling on the Government to cut the cost of the Common Agricultural Policy to taxpayers in Worcestershire and across the UK, as it emerged that thousands of payments to farmers are worth less than the average cost of administering subsidy claims.

At present, processing each payout to individual farmers costs the taxpayer an average of £742. However, figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats revealed that over 14,500 payments of under £400 were made in 2007. These figures include 636 claims of under £50 and one of just 70p.

The Government is to bring in minimum payments for 2010, either set at between £100 and £200 or in the range of one to five hectares. But the Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of a higher figure set at around £250, with the money saved from processing these claims to be given over to a new scheme to breathe new life into struggling farms.

Commenting today, Richard said: "Single farm payments are there to support farmers and allow them to produce food and cope with a market that is staggeringly unfair. But what we have at the moment is a system that allows someone to put in a claim for 70p at an administrative cost to the taxpayer of £742.

"Bringing in a minimum payment would continue to provide support to local farmers; but would also enable us to divert some of the resources to other parts of the industry - such as sheep farmers - who really need help."

"With funding at a premium, it's important that we redirect this wasteful spending to bring new energy into farming. The £7million we would save by introducing a minimum threshold should be used to finance an apprenticeship scheme to provide the next generation of farmers."

"Cutting out the thousands of tiny claims would also mean that local farmers get their payments on time. At present, farmers who are dependent on single farm payments to keep a roof over their heads are forced to wait for months because these incredibly small claims are clogging up the system."