UK taxpayers could be forced to pay for EU-style handouts to farmers for the next 25 years

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UK TAXPAYERS could be forced to foot the bill to continue EU handouts for farmers for up to 25 years amid a furious Whitehall tug of war, HOAR can reveal.

The Government has guaranteed farmers will continue receiving payments that they currently receive from the EUs hated Common Agricultural Policy for at least the next five years.

Taxpayers could be forced to pay for EU handouts to farmers for the next 25 years

But there is a live discussion between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for International Trade (DIT) over how long the subsidies should continue for.

Remarkably, some in Defra want the payments gradually phased out over 25 years.

But DIT wants the handouts to end within five years and have warned any longer could hinder Britains ability to strike new trade deals with the like of the US, Australia and New Zealand.

‘BOWING TO DEMANDS’

American officials are very keen to put agriculture products at the centre of a trade deal but have warned that if British farmers are backed by huge state subsidies for the next two decades then it would limit US/UK trade.

One Whitehall official accused Defra of bowing to demands of the National Farmers Union, who are lobbying for as much protection for farmers as possible.

Another added: “If they get their way then we can kiss goodbye to signing a bumper trade deal with the US.”

The EUs hated Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) currently hands a whopping 3.2billion a year to farmers based on the amount of land they own rather than what they do to it.

The stand-off between the two departments has left the issue outstanding despite the Agriculture Bill currently going through Parliament.

The draft law proposes that a “transition period” for farmer handouts lasts for seven years but one official in Defra said: Its not signed, sealed and delivered yet.

They also said it was subject to wranglings between various departments.

The payments will gradually be replaced by a system that hands landowners grants for “land management” projects that improve the environment such as tree-planting and schemes that boost air and water quality.

Examples would include anti-flooding schemes that allows overflowing rivers to run through their fields so they avoid towns and villages or farmers who reduce fertilisers that cause pollution.

A Whitehall official said: We want to make sure we secure the best trade deals as a whole and that includes the agriculture industry.

There is a live discussion going on over the length of time payments last for. Defra is looking much more favourably on 25 years.

With negotiations with the US fast-approaching, this is a decision that needs to be made.