BREXIT

BREXIT

The fact that people are tired of hearing about Brexit and simply want it all to be over was brought home to me as I attended the recent IAgM Fellows lunch in the House of Lords. Baroness Byford, in her address indicated in no uncertain terms that Parliament is itself frustrated by the current logjam!

I set out below some thoughts primarily those of Julie Robinson from Roythornes solicitors.

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy will cease to apply in the UK. Direct payments under the CAP were protected under the EU/UK Withdrawal Agreement.

Farmers will submit their claims by 15 May in the usual way and payments be made from EU funds as claims are covered by Regulation (EU) 1307/2013 and related legislation. However, leaving without a deal will change that. There will be a ‘settling’ of accounts between the UK and the EU, with the UK seeking re-imbursement of relevant direct payments made to claimants up to the date of leaving. After that date, direct payments will be paid directly by HM Treasury.

The Government has committed to maintain the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the current Parliament. That was expected to be 2022 but we may see a general election well before then.

By virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, CAP direct payment regulations are retained in UK law as from exit day, whenever that is. A raft of statutory instruments has recently been introduced making the necessary technical changes to the EU ‘retained’ regulations to ensure that direct payments can be delivered by UK authorities. Farmers will complete the same form and be under the same cross-compliance and greening rules as they would have been had we stayed in the EU. The difference is that those rules are now derived from UK rather than EU law.

From 2020 we may see some minor technical changes to BPS rules, although nothing drastic is on the cards. However, if a new government is in place by 2020 funding levels may not be maintained.