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An agriculture bill which outlines how farm support payments will be targeted after Brexit is to be published before parliament breaks up for summer recess in July.
Speaking at a parliamentary committee in Westminster on Wednesday, Defra Secretary Michael Gove said that the timeline for the bill had been brought forward from the end of the year.
The bill will focus on post-Brexit agricultural policy in England. However, it is expected to contain details of a broader framework for agricultural policy to be delivered across devolved regions of the UK.
A public consultation on future agricultural policy in England closed in May and received 44,000 responses. “We have recruited some people from across and outside the civil service to help make sure we are in a position to bring forward legislation,” Gove told MPs.
The Defra Secretary had previously suggested that he wants to put a cap on large support payments made to landowners in England after Brexit. Included in the Defra consultation were proposals that payments during a transition period after Brexit could be capped at £100,000, or progressive reductions applied to payments above £25,000.
However, on Wednesday, Gove seemed to be rowing back from this position, suggesting that cuts could be made across all direct payments to fund new pilot agri-environment schemes.
This was put forward by the National Farmers’ Union in its response to the Defra consultation last month. “We are looking at that argument,” Gove said on Wednesday.
When asked by committee chair Neil Parish how much of a cut will be applied, Gove said that it had not been finalised yet. “It will not be as big as 20%,” he said.
Reductions to payments
He also gave no indication when reductions to payments could be expected.
Gove was then questioned about the possibility of the UK importing food from countries with lower production standards after Brexit to deliver lower prices for consumers.
“What we mustn’t do is have a deterioration in the high standards that we set for environmental protection and animal welfare in pursuit of the cheapest possible food,” he responded.
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