Meeting of the Parliament 09 March 2016 [Draft]
No.
Questions remain, and they are big questions. Can the Scottish Government guarantee that the £200 million will reach farmers and crofters before the end of April? Worryingly, the cabinet secretary could not tell Parliament that all farmers and crofters will receive their full CAP payment by the 30 June deadline. If he can do that in his winding-up speech, I will be absolutely delighted. Why should any farmer or crofter believe that a failed IT system that cost £200 million will make payments of £100 million in March and April when it has paid out only £103 million in the past three months? We would all appreciate an answer to that.
How are farmers and crofters meant to submit a single application form by 15 May when they do not have a final entitlement letter, never mind a balancing payment? That has never happened in all the years of devolution. What provision has the Government now made for the EU fines that will inevitably follow?
The failure of the Government’s £200 million IT system is nothing short of a national disgrace. Last night’s decision was taken because farmers and crofters from Shetland to Galloway are to lobby Parliament tomorrow. They have not stopped—they are still coming. Yesterday, the First Minister faced what can only be described as a shellacking from the NFUS. She had listened to the cabinet secretary defending the indefensible yesterday morning, and something had to be done. Last night, the Government changed its position, and rightly so. It is just as well that the First Minister finally understood that telling farmers that they should be grateful to be paid in June, as she did last Thursday, was not acceptable.
Why did the Government not make this decision earlier? It could have made it in January or February or, as the French Government did, it could have made it last year.