Public money for public goods scheme open to challenge at WTO

NFU Brexit and international trade director Nick von Westenholz went on to claim the UK would not have an ‘open wallet’ to spend what it likes on any post-Brexit schemes.

“There will be discussions at an international level on how far and wide the UK Government can go in terms of providing what is under trade law subsidies to its farmers,” he said.

But Tom Lancaster, acting head of land, seas and climate policy at the RSPB, suggested the biggest influence over future payments would be the Treasury, not WTO rules.

He said: “The Basic Payment Scheme [BPS] is fairly unprecedented in terms of support as pure profit.

“There is very little cost involved and it does not provide good value for money, so something which provides better value for money will require more from farmers than BPS does, and that is only right when we are looking ahead to what is likely to be one of the biggest recessions in history and a tight public spending squeeze.”