More Farm Payment Delays Intolerable

10.08.00pm GMT Wed 8th Nov 2006

Barry Stamp discusses the Single Farm Payment crisis with a Stafford farmer

Barry Stamp, Stafford's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman has reacted angrily to the news that many Stafford farmers could face yet another delay in getting their single farm payment.

Barry said he was appalled and sicken to her that David Miliband - the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs - had told MPs that he could not guarantee farmers would get the full 2006 payment by the target date of next June.

"Once again farmers have been dealt a bitter blow by David Miliband's admission that he could not guarantee that the target of getting all this years' single farm payments made before the middle of next year would be met. Many Stafford farmers have already struggled to make ends meet as the 2005 payments were delayed and many have had to rely on their banks agreeing to lend them considerable sums of money to ensure their businesses remain afloat! For many people the thought that they could be facing the same problem again will be just too much to bear. This all of course comes at a time when farmers are facing growing pressures from cheap imports and the relentless attempts by the big supermarkets to drive prices down. To make matters worse only today DEFRA revealed that it had paid out over £7million in bonuses to its workers over the past two years. This situation is intolerable and cannot be allowed to continue. The Government must do something as a matter of urgency to improve the performance of DEFRA and the Rural Payments Agency before farmers are forced out of business through no fault of their own," said Barry Stamp.