Rogerson slams government broken promises on single farm payments
Following the announcement today by the Rural Payments Agency that many farmers will not be paid until March of this year, North Cornwall Liberal Democrat Dan Rogerson MP said:
"As a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, I heard the Government Minister tell us that payments would be made in February. Now they are saying that they will start payments by the end of February. Farmers will know from bitter experience that this means many of them will not receive any money until March."
"The whole saga of the Single Farm Payment has been a disastrous succession of inaccuracies and inefficiencies underlined by Government complacency. The Government should accept the responsibility for this resounding failure and offer an apology to farmers across England."
Notes:
– The DEFRA Ministerial Statement can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2006/farm-0131.htm
– Dan Rogerson is a member of the EFRA Select Committee which was highly critical of the Rural Payments Agency and Government Minister Lord Bach in its recent report on the subject: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/environment__food_and_rural_affairs/efra_pn23_060123.cfm
