Action by June or minister must go - NFU
The Council of the National Farmers' Union today put Defra Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett on notice that NFU members will demand her resignation if the process of making single payments to farmers in England is not completed by the EU deadline of Friday 30 June.
The NFU's decision follows an impassioned debate during which one council delegate after another offered a vivid account of the anxiety and hardship being caused by the chaos and confusion into which the process of making the payments has descended.
The meeting was told of overdrafts having to be extended, bills unpaid, of a cash-flow crisis, and of rural helplines such as the Farm Crisis Network being overwhelmed by calls from increasingly desperate farmers.
And, today, at a rally at Melton Mowbray Livestock Market more than 150 farmers expressed their anger and frustration at Defra's broken promises. The NFU-organised rally was addressed by Conservative agriculture spokesman James Paice MP and Rutland and Melton MP Alan Duncan, both were able to talk individually with farmers about the pressures facing the industry.
Speaking at the rally, Leicestershire farmer, Rad Thomas, said: "We need to see a sea change in Defra attitudes to the payments, otherwise we'll be back here in the same situation in 12 months' time. We need farmers to make their feelings known to their MPs - don't just sit back and let it happen; help yourself, your NFU and your industry to get some action from Defra and the RPA."
Earlier the NFU's national Council had been told by Mark Addison, Acting Chief Executive of the Rural Payments Agency which is responsible for delivering payments to 122,000 claimants in England, that despite efforts made to accelerate the payment process he could not offer any firm assurances as to when farmers could expect to receive their payments.
Mr Addison apologised to the meeting for the failure to keep commitments and to meet deadlines and said that he understood the great difficulties that the delays and confusion were creating for farming businesses and farming families.
He outlined the steps that had already been taken to improve and speed up the processing of claims and said that a system that would allow for part payments was being worked up.
Speaking after the Council meeting, NFU President Peter Kendall said: "Today's debate was a reflection of the anger and frustration - verging in some cases on desperation - that farmers across the country have been expressing at the complete fiasco, from conception to delivery, that the single payment scheme in England has become.
"Council felt that it was Margaret Beckett's decision to opt for the hugely complex model of single payment that applies in England and it was Mrs Beckett that accepted the assurances of her officials at the RPA that they would be made on time. So it is she who has the responsibility for sorting out this appalling mess."
