as published in the Yorkshire Post 8/11/06

Simon McGee
Political Editor

THE Government delivered a devastating snub to farmers last night by refusing to guarantee full payment of crucial subsidies by next summer's deadline.

Environment Secretary David Miliband conceded that the fiasco of the 2005 Single Payment Scheme had badly hit the timetable for the 2006 scheme, and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) had admitted it could not pay all the money due to farmers by June 30 next year.

But he bowed slightly to rural pressure over the way payments are made in England by announcing partial amounts as a matter of course - although he claimed payments by the end of the year "can't be justified".

The Yorkshire Post is calling for the Government to sort out the shambles and guarantee all farmers will receive money for next year by Christmas Day.

To add insult to the farmers' plight, Mr Miliband's gloomy prediction came as official figures emerged showing Whitehall officials who oversaw the fiasco received £3.4m in performance-related bonuses in the 12 months up to last March, when the extent emerged of what Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne called "one of the biggest bureaucratic bungles ever to afflict rural Britain".

It has forced many farmers to borrow to make up the subsidy shortfall.

Not until mid-February next year will the overwhelming majority of claimants begin receiving at least 50 per cent of their total subsidy, and Mr Miliband said it should then take no longer than three weeks to get all the partial payments out.

But, under questioning from Skipton and Ripon MP David Curry, he acknowledged he could offer no "bankable certainty" of payment until the money arrived in farmers' bank accounts.

And Mr Miliband insisted to Scarborough and Whitby MP,  Robert Goodwill  - who backs the Yorkshire Post's campaign - that a payment next month "can't be justified" according to the stability he was trying to introduce to the RPA.

Mr Miliband added: "I think that February, three months earlier than the payments this year, is the right way to strike a balance" - something Mr Goodwill regarded as a partial victory.

The National Farmers' Union, Country Land and Business Association and Tenant Farmers' Association, who have all added their voice to the Yorkshire Post's campaign, said: "We have strongly argued for a part payment and for a clear timetable, so to that extent we are relieved David Miliband has listened to our case.

"However, this still leaves much of the industry in financial difficulties and we are very disappointed the payment is less and later than we wanted."

In his statement to MPs, Mr Miliband apologised for the problems that have dogged the RPA, pledging to sort them out. But he said improvements would "not happen overnight".

He conceded that under the 2005 scheme almost 5,000 farmers were still waiting for top-up payments and 1,616 were yet to receive a penny.

Tory Shadow Agriculture Minister Jim Paice blamed Ministers for a "catalogue of incompetence".