Basic Payment Scheme Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Main Page: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)Department Debates - View all Anne-Marie Trevelyan's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Basic Payment Scheme
Anne-Marie Trevelyan Excerpts(8 years, 3 months ago)
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Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (Con)
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. I have been meeting regularly with farmers who are struggling. In large measure, Northumbrian farmers have very small farms and upland farms. Does he agree that it is unacceptable that DEFRA and the common agricultural policy system are the loan service? Farmers are having to carry the burden and the emotional and family pressures of having big debts, while DEFRA cannot manage to pay out on time and in full.
James Heappey
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. The issue has caused significant distress. When I reflect on some of the correspondence I have had from farmers in Somerset, I find that their anger subsides very quickly to real worry and concern for their livelihood and those of their families and the people they support through their business. The issue is hugely important.