Statement from the EC claims Government could have avoided controversial payouts to wealthy landowners
An investigation last year by Greenpeace found that 16 of the UK's top 100 recipients of EU farm subsidies were individuals or families on the 2016 Sunday Times Rich List, receiving a total of £13.4m.
They included the millionaire inventor Sir James Dyson, whose Beeswax Farming enterprise received almost £1.5m, and Prince Khalid Abdullah Al Saud, the owner of champion racehorse Frankel, who got nearly £407,000 for his Juddmonte Farms. Sandringham Farms, the estate owned by the Queen, received £557,707, while Grosvenor Farms Ltd, which farms the Duke of Westminster’s estate, collected £437,434.
But the European Commission has said in a statement that EU rules allow member states to substantially cut CAP 'basic payments' to large landowners by applying a ceiling. In fact the UK is one of only nine countries to do so -- it applies an upper limit in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
'The UK government chooses not to apply a ceiling in England,' the commission said, adding that repeated proposals for more radical reform – including a compulsory ceiling on basic payments to large landowners – have 'consistently been watered down by national ministers'.
Brussels sources said Britain played a leading part in a small group of EU members that opposed the measure. As a result, a major 2014 CAP reform package did not include a compulsory upper limit – but left open an optional ceiling that could be applied at national level.
Read more on this story on The Guardian here.
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Published Friday 30 September 2016
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
