Labour pressured into humiliating climbdown after big blow to farmers | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Labour has been pressured to rethink its determination to abruptly droop a key inexperienced farming scheme with out warning. The Government introduced in March that it could not settle for new functions for the Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI), which pays farmers to handle their land in an environmentally pleasant manner.

The transfer, which left hundreds of farmers with half-completed functions, prompted the National Farmers Union (NFU) to threaten a authorized problem. Environment minister Daniel Zeichner right now confirmed that farmers who had begun an software inside two months of the closure date would be capable of full it.

NFU President Tom Bradshaw stated: “We stated from day one which this sudden closure, with simply minutes’ discover, was wholly unacceptable and at all times flawed.

“The NFU was decided to make use of its experience to problem this devastating determination, and I want to thank these members and workers who led this work.”

The change means around 3,000 farmers will now be able to submit their applications.

Tory shadow justice secretary Victoria Atkins said: “It mustn’t take the specter of authorized motion to do the precise factor for British farmers.

“Now 3,000 more farmers can complete their SFI payment applications and not face the Labour-imposed cliff edge.

“Labour might have prevented this U-turn in the event that they listened.”

The sudden axing of the scheme in March was described at the time by campaigners as “one other shattering blow” to farmers and the “most merciless” betrayal.

It comes as Labour has confronted an ongoing backlash for its inheritance tax raid on farmers, which the Daily Express is campaigning towards with our Save Britain’s Family Farm campaign.

The Government has promised to set out particulars of a revised model of the scheme following the spending overview later this yr.