"Single Farm Payment delays are a shambles" - Took

12.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 22nd May 2006

In an open letter to Ashford farmers, former parliamentary candidate Chris Took has slammed the delay in payment of the Single Farm Payment.

Chris, who met Ashford farmers in the run up to the 2005 general election, wrote

"I and the Liberal Democrats have been deeply critical of the Government's shambolic handling of the new Single Farm Payments Scheme. While the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Executive have both managed to successfully navigate the switch, English farmers have had to endure Defra and the RPA playing the blame game. Other EU countries have not had problems meeting the 15th June deadline even those that chose the more complex Dynamic Hybrid System for payments, like the UK and most have made the payments within two months of the windows opening.

The lack of foresight shown by Defra and the RPA is simply unacceptable. We are also dismayed at the complacency of Ministers, who have refused to admit that they have made any mistakes in setting policy even though they opted for the complex scheme that the RPA has failed to implement. To add insult to injury, Margaret Beckett as the Defra Secretary responsible for this mess has just been promoted to the Foreign Office, which gives a fair indication of how seriously the prime minister takes these problems. It is staggering that, so close to the proposed deadline for making payments, and nearly a year after that date was announced by the RPA, Defra could still not give us a definitive statement about when payments would be made, or whether they would be full or partial payments."

Roger Williams MP, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Rural Affairs, has written to the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development asking for a compensation package to be set up to help with interest payments. At the moment farmers can be paid after the payment window closes on the 15th June without any chance of compensation for the financial hardship this delay has placed them under.

Ashford Liberal Democrats believe that English farmers are the victim of this affair, and should not have to pay for the incompetence of this government. We therefore feel that farmers should be compensated for late payments and the extra interest for which they will liable through borrowing.

The party will continue to press the Government strongly to resolve this situation and relieve the difficulties that so many people in the farming community are facing.