Farming subsidies could be diverted to NHS after Brexit, according to top PM advisor
Some of the subsidies farmers receive every year could be diverted to hospitals after the UK leaves the EU, according to Theresa May's top policy adviser.
This summer, Chancellor Philip Hammond committed to maintaining farming subsidy levels at their current level until the UK leaves the EU.
However, with Britain now due to leave the European Union by March 2019, Mr Freeman’s remarks will prompt speculation that farming subsidies - worth £3billion a year - will be cut after Brexit.
Mr Freeman, who chairs the Prime Minister’s policy board, said once people realised how much cash was spent on farming subsidies they would want it to be diverted to hospitals, unless ministers made a strong case for how the money was spent.
This comes as news that farm subsidy payments funded by the UK taxpayer are being paid to millionaire landowners, with £400,000 going to a billionaire Saudi prince, it has been reported.
Top beneficiaries receiving EU farm subsidies include the Queen, Lord Iveagh, the Duke of Westminster, Duke of Northumberland, Saudi horse breeder Khalid Abdullah al Saud and others - each receiving upwards of £400,000 each.
With the uncertainty over subsidies now in light, the Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has also said she hoped more young people could be encouraged to "engage with countryside matters".
She called on Britons take up the fruit picking and farm labouring jobs currently occupied by EU migrants, amid farmers current fears over a labour shortage once the UK leaves the EU a possibility.
'Profound' agricultural 'shake out'
Mr Freeman said the agricultural sector will experience a 'profound shake out', with lot of negotiating to do.
"If the British electorate looked at a chunk of money that was going to British agriculture, the likelihood of them saying ‘I would rather more of it went to the NHS’ is quite high," Mr Freeman said.
"There is quite a big piece of work to be done to explain to the public properly why the British agricultural industry is a key strategic sector for the UK – which I don’t think has been explained well."
Mr Freeman said that the Government would protect payments to unprofitable hill farmers but other areas were “likely to change”.
He said: “We are going to end up supporting bits of farming that clearly would not work without some support.
“I just think the British electorate would say ‘hang on a minute, we understand why marginal hill farmers, and people who could not exist without support, need some help.
“But they may have a problem with 'you mean we have to write a big cheque every year that we used to turn a blind eye to when it was Europe, but now it has got HMG on it'"
