Becketts excuses are pitiful -Williams

Following remarks by Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, that farmers should have expected delays in receiving their Single Farm Payment, Roger Williams, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Rural Affairs has commented:

"It is shocking that the Secretary of State would try to get out of this situation by blaming farmers for having unrealistic expectations when it came to receiving their Single Farm Payment. Why should English farms suffer when almost all in Europe have been paid? Farmers in England are in an increasingly difficult financial situation due to these delays, so for the Secretary of State to argue that it is essentially their own fault for expecting payment is appalling.

By arguing that no farming business could have ever been sure that it would have received its subsidy payment before June, the Secretary of State is letting DEFRA, the Rural Payments Agency and herself off the hook. What happened to targets? What happened to the payment window opening in November last year and the assurances that subsidies would be paid out by March? MPs were told time and time again that progress was being made, that the end of March was when we could expect the majority of payments to be made. Farmers look to the government for guidance and advice: when they were told to expect payments by the end of March, this is what they believed would be the case.

How can farmers be expected to financially plan ahead and organise their cash flows if the government take this hands-off approach?"