| Fatcat farmers get lion's share of CAP aid |
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 Farmers in some of the richest parts of England pocket the lion's share of subsidies under the controversial Common Agricultural Policy, according to new figures released by the government. CAP's defenders argue that it supports small, poor farmers, but data from the Rural Payments Agency shows that affluent Lincolnshire receives more cash than all of the North West, where there are three times as many farms.
Tony Blair is keen to use Britain's presidency of the European Union to pursue wholesale reform of the £30bn system of farm handouts, but world leaders meeting at Gleneagles this month failed to agree a deadline for abolishing subsidies. Both George Bush and Jacques Chirac pledged themselves to dismantling subsidies but neither has so far been willing to sign up to concrete measures. 'These figures reveal the regional inequality at the heart of the CAP,' said Jack Thurston, an agriculture expert at the German Marshall Fund. 'Payments are skewed towards large, efficient agribusinesses andwealthy landowners. It is no surprise to see the intensive farms of East Anglia coming out on top.' The regional breakdown of payments to farmers in England, released under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that, while the South East received £212m of subsidies last year, just £86m went to the North West and £96m to the North East. A small proportion of subsidy payments under the CAP is now channeled towards the poorest regions, and to farmers who fulfil environmental criteria - but the figures, collected last year, show that much of the cash still goes to richer areas. 'The fact that the CAP fails the key test of redistribution from rich to poor should strengthen the case for root-and-branch reform,' said Thurston. This article appears courtesy of the The Observer Newspaper
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