Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mel Stride and Angela Smith

Tuesday 3rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

5. What assessment his Department has made of the fiscal effect on the agricultural sector of the UK leaving the EU customs union and single market.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mel Stride)]

We are of course in the process of our negotiations with the European Union, and until they are concluded it will not be possible precisely to assess the impact on our agricultural sector, other than to assure the hon. Lady that agriculture has a very high priority for this Government. That is why we have pledged the same cash total in funds for farming as under the EU until the end of this Parliament.

[Angela Smith]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that Brexit will deliver significant damage to the economy and to Government receipts. In that context, will the Minister guarantee that farmers will not suffer a reduction in the level of support they currently receive in the post common agricultural policy period?

[Mel Stride]

As the hon. Lady will know, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is consulting currently and looking at the results of the recent consultation on how we should fund farming. Public money for public goods is at the centre of that approach. I reiterate that we have pledged the same cash total in funds for farming as under the EU for the rest of this Parliament.