Labour’s ‘cruellest betrayal of farmers to date’ could have broken the law, leading agricultural law experts have said.
Yesterday, the government announced the suspension of Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) scheme – a vital subsidy scheme that pays farmers to farm sustainably – with a paltry thirty minutes warning.
The scheme, which plays a vital role in farmers’ budgets and business plans, paid farmers up to £3,000 per action for things like improving soil and maintaining hedgerows while growing high quality food for the nation.
But farmers who have been working on their applications for weeks suddenly found Defra was rejecting their application yesterday after no prior warning.
Farmers feel they are being attacked by Labour because of an ideological hatred
PA
The move has provoked outrage and despair across the rural community as farmers scramble to fill gaps in their business plans and react to another broken Labour promise.
Like inheritance tax relief, Labour promised farmers they would not touch SFI payments if they won the election.
Country Land and Business Association President Victoria Vyvyan: “SFI was the most ambitious, forward thinking and environmentally friendly agricultural policy seen anywhere in the world – it promised a fairer future for farmers and a greener future for the world.
“Labour promised to support it, but at the first available opportunity they have instead scrapped it.
“Of all the betrayals so far, this is the cruellest. It actively harms nature. It actively harms the environment.
“And, with war once again raging in Europe, to actively harm our food production is reckless beyond belief.”
However, legal experts have pointed out this latest act in Labour’s ‘war on farmers’ could in fact be illegal.
It all comes down to the fact that the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) promised farmers they would have six weeks’ notice if the scheme was to be suspended for any reason.
Defra gave thirty minutes warning of the suspension, despite telling farmers this on their website
Defra gave thirty minutes warning of the suspension, despite telling farmers this on their website
Gov.UK
Stuart Maggs, fellow of Agricultural Law Association, said: “There are laws around Legitimate Expectation, where a public body promises in a clear statement to do something, and it is relied upon.
“It’s never cut and dried, but this seems pretty clear. I’d be interested to see where this ends up, but Victoria Atkins should be asking about this in Parliament.”
Maggs, who has given evidence at Defra Select Committees on the damaging changes to inheritance tax, added: “With no warning, DEFRA has just announced the immediate closing of a scheme that for years has helped improve the environment across England. There are no details of whether it will open again.
“The SFI scheme helped farmers grow food in ways that protect nature, reducing the impact caused by intensive farming.
“It is a pillar of the policy of public money for public good, and a key part of the drive towards Net Zero. Withdrawing it removes vital support from those seeking to feed the nation while improving our environment.
“Farmers who had expected to submit an application tomorrow or later have found that the money they have invested in preparing for it has been wasted.
“Farmers are resilient folk, used to rolling with the punches and facing down the storms. But no business can plan for the future if the government keeps shifting the goalposts.
“There should have been a transition, a phasing out period. But instead, DEFRA has snapped their fingers and the help they had promised has suddenly gone.”
Stuart Maggs (left) giving evidence to Defra select committee. Maggs has suggested Labour could be in legal hot water over their recent SFI suspension
Getty/Parliament TV
The move is the latest from Labour in a litany of reforms imposed on the agricultural sector since taking power.
Farmers are already enraged that Labour has slashed their vital inheritance tax relief and introduced new taxes on fertilisers and pick-up trucks in the push for net-zero.
It has led many including the usually diplomatic National Farming Union President Tom Bradshaw to question whether Labour’s ‘attack’ on farmers is about raising money, or whether it is purely ideological.
“This is another shattering blow to English farms delivered, yet again, with no warning, no understand of the industry and a complete lack of compassion or care,” said Bradshaw.
“The fact that ministers are actually trumpeting this as good news shows how desperately detached they are from the reality on the ground and how little they understand this industry.”
Another point commentators and experts have raised is whether Labour’s farming measures are borne out of incompetence, not cruelty.
“You have to wonder when Steve Reed (Defra Secretary) and Daniel Zeichner (Defra Minister of State) knew the SFI budget was running out, and why they didn’t tell anyone,” said Stuart Maggs, agricultural law expert.
“You’d expect it was to avoid a rush, but ambushing farmers like this, slamming the door in the face of those queuing for support, isn’t the way to do it.
“If they knew months ago, then an announcement of a closing date together with a warning that there would be a phased percentage reduction in payments would have been painful but understandable.
“The way this was done smacks of a panicked response by people who didn’t know what was going on.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw has despaired at Rachel Reeves’ refusal to meet with leaders of the farming community
GB News
Unsurprisingly, the rapid suspension of SFI has sparked outrage from farmers who say the removal of sustainable subsidies will damage the environment, dent farmers’ finances further and ultimately produce less food for the nation.
Commenting on the Farming Forum, one farmer from Yorkshire said: “The incentive to farm sustainably is dead and gone. Every acre of land that can grow wheat will be drilled for the 2026 harvest.”
This is bad for nature as wheat, drilled on a massive scale, is poor for biodiversity as it is a ‘monoculture’.
One livestock farmer from northeast Wales said: “I laugh at Starmer and his inept government. The electorate are the ones ultimately getting shafted.
“If we feed 10,000 people from our farm then it is each and every one of them who are getting shafted. The electorate will not forgive or forget.
“It proves they are losing the fight when they have to resort to dirty tricks. I might even feel sorry for them if they weren’t all so deserving of all the flak.”
Commenting more widely, Tom Bradshaw added: “It leaves us with little choice but to see Defra as a failing department. The chaos has got worse and worse and farmers are paying the price. Bad decisions, misdirection, promises broken, no transparency and yet more financial disaster for farming.
“When the Chancellor dramatically accelerated the end of the old schemes for all farmers, it was on the promise that they would all be able to access the new ones, which paid them for doing environmental work.
“But the door has now been slammed shut for thousands of farmers, creating haves and have nots based purely on timing.
“They say the money is spent, but because Defra refuses to be transparent we don’t know where it’s been spent, or whether it’s all been spent within this year.
“The awful dilemma now faced by many farmers is whether to turn their backs on environmental work and just farm as hard as they can to survive. This is a loss to both farming and the environment and cannot be what was intended.
“It is a bleak irony that we were set to reveal tomorrow that farming confidence in England and Wales has plummeted to its lowest level ever – lower than last year when those who are now Defra Ministers said it was a scandal and a disaster.”
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Farmers have warned suspending SFI will damage the UK’s biodiversity and lead to the mass drilling of wheat
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Explaining the decision, Defra said in press release, “This Government inherited an uncapped scheme, despite a finite farming budget.
‘The highest ever level of participation in SFI means the maximum limit has now been reached.
‘Therefore, as SFI has reached its completion the Government is stopping accepting new SFI applications today.
‘Now is the right time for a reset: supporting farmers, delivering for nature and targeting public funds fairly and effectively towards our priorities for food, farming and nature.’
Commenting, Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner said: “This Government is proud to have set the biggest budget for sustainable food produce in history, to boost growth in rural communities and all across the UK, under our Plan for Change.
“More farmers are now in schemes and more money is being spent through them than ever before. That is true today and will remain true tomorrow.
“We have now successfully allocated the SFI24 budget as promised.”
All existing SFI agreement holders will continue to be paid under the terms of their agreement for its duration. Those who entered into a three-year SFI agreement earlier this year will be paid until 2028.
It comes as Labour scrambles to get the nation’s finances back on track after Rachel Reeves bombshell budget failed to spark growth.
The Chancellor is being forced to consider more tax increases and spending cuts in her imminent Spring statement, with the agriculture budget a prime target.