Defra under fire from British farmers for ‘disappointing’ Brexit leaflet

Oliver Dowding, agricultural spokesman for the Green Party in the south west, hit out at the leaflet, describing it as ‘25 per cent pretty pictures’ coupled with ‘aspiration and uncertainty creation’.

He said farmers needed more information to budget and plan, including projections of how currency exchange would affect commodity prices.

But Phil Stocker, chief executive of the National Sheep Association, told Farmers Guardian the leaflet was a ‘useful update’ for farmers.

“There are a lot of farmers out there who have been left behind with the discussions,” he said.

“Things are changing rapidly and people can be excused for having lost track.”

Horribly late

Mr Stocker did, however, claim the Government was leaving it ‘horribly late’ to announce the detail of no-deal contingency support.

Farming Minister George Eustice has previously said Defra is planning a £100-150m compensation scheme for the sheep sector, citing modelling from the department and NFU which showed the economic impact of EU tariffs would be within that range.

But no decision has been taken yet on whether payments would come in the form of a headage payment on breeding ewes or a slaughterhouse premium on lambs.

Unclear

It is also unclear whether the modelling undertaken for a March exit date would produce the same result for an October no-deal Brexit.

“The whole idea should be about avoiding things going wrong, and the later they leave it, the more going wrong will be inevitable,” Mr Stocker said.

The Defra spokesman insisted no-deal preparations were being ’boosted’ and said farming sector representatives were being provided with the information they needed before the UK leaves the EU.