Which way should farmers vote? What's in their best interests?
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Farmers are complaining about the prices they get for their hard work, the EU's 'red tape' and much else, but given the chance for a new, fairer deal by leaving the EU in June, many say they will reject it and stay with what they have.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) we have had to get used to was not designed to help British farmers, and takes little notice of the very different methods used in the UK compared to much of the rest of Europe.

It has been said to hinder, not assist, our farmers in their work.

One of the farmers' biggest worries seems to be the loss or reduction of farming subsidies if we leave the EU. However, George Eustice, the UK's Farming Minister, has confirmed that subsidies will not only be maintained outside the EU but actually be increased in many cases. This can be done because the CAP currently costs the UK at least £16 billion per year, and some sources put it even higher at £18 billion.

However, very little of that actually reaches our farmers in the UK; the bulk of it is spread around the remainder of the EU. Once we stop sending it abroad we will not only reduce the tax burden on the UK taxpayer but be able to increase payments to our farmers. This will go hand-in-hand with a big reduction in EU 'red tape', which merely reduces efficiency and increases costs.

There are other benefits, too. Outside the EU, animal welfare can be vastly improved by:

  • increasing the maximum penalty for deliberate cruelty to animals
  • banning testing by companies on animals
  • banning the export of live animals for slaughter
  • abolishing, creating or modifying other farming procedures in ways currently impossible under EU regulations

Leaving the EU and returning to a British system - run for UK farmers and overseen by the UK government in Whitehall, as it was before we joined the EU - appears to be a 'win-win' situation for all involved. It is hard to see why many farmers, but by no means all, are against the idea.