Labour Peers Slam Government Over 76% Cut to Farmer Payments – Guido Fawkes

Labour Peers Slam Government Over 76% Cut to Farmer Payments

Labour is ramming through the Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) draft bill to gut farmers’ delinked payments – successor to the pre-Brexit Basic Payment Scheme that propped up food production and kept farmers’ incomes steady – slashing them by a brutal 76% in 2025, capping payouts at a measly £7,200. Despite DEFRA’s own stats showing 42% of farms were unprofitable without the BPS subsidy…

The cash from payment cuts to farmers are designed to fund environmental stewardship such as Environmental Land Management schemes. Last week the House of Lords saw two Labour peers tear into the proposals. Lord Grantchester blasted the Treasury’s knack for “strangling every good initiative at birth,” warning “we cannot and must not lose sight of the role of all farms in hitting environmental and sustainability targets.” Not the first time the green dream has been slammed for coming at too high a price…

Labour peer Lord Rooker refused to vote against amendments tabled by the LibDems and Tories against the reductions: “It is only my respect for this House and our procedures that prevents me walking out, because I have not the slightest intention of voting to support these regulations. I will abstain on both amendments. I will not hang around during the votes; I shall go.” Reeves is facing heat from her own on this one…