Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has welcomed a £1.9bn financial commitment to Scottish agriculture in the UK Government’s budget delivered yesterday by Chancellor, Rishi Sunak.
The government has committed to maintain the funding available to farmers and land managers in every year of this Parliament, supplementing the remaining EU funding for agri-environment and rural development projects. The UK Government is therefore providing £3.7 billion to support farmers and land managers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over the 2021 Spending Review period. This includes a combined £85 million for the Scottish and Welsh governments building on the recommendations of the Bew Review.
Mr Halcro Johnston said: “The budget announcement provides £1.9bn for farmers and crofters across Scotland and confirms the UK Government’s continued commitment to the agricultural sector here in Scotland and across the UK. Obviously this is very good news for a rural region like my own where financial support for agriculture is highly significant, and supports many jobs and livelihoods."
“It’s now really important that the Scottish Government, which has responsibility for delivering much of this support, gets on with the job of ensuring the cash gets to those who qualify for it."
“For instance, many island agricultural businesses have been unable to get their goods to market due to the ferry fiasco so the least SNP ministers can do is to ensure that there are no delays in getting this support directly to its intended recipients.”
More on this story here: UK Budget backs farm funding commitment for lifetime of parliament | The Scottish Farmer
