The UK’s Farming Minister, George Eustice, has shed light on plans for a “more coherent” domestic substitute for the Common Agricultural Policy, once Brexit has been implemented.
The Tory frontbencher told the Press and Journal it was an area where the UK Government wanted to see “rapid change”.
He also insisted that the opportunity to design a better system in the wake of the vote to leave the EU should not be squandered.
Earlier this week, Theresa May unveiled a great repeal bill to end the authority of EU law by converting all its provisions into British law on the day of the exit.
But, at a National Farmers’ Union event at the Tory conference, Defra Secretary Andrea Leadsom admitted there would be “some exceptions” to the commitment to nationalise the body of legislation.
And she suggested CAP would “quite likely” be included in that.
Asked afterwards about what would replace it, Mr Eustice responded that “at the very least”, the UK Government would want to “streamline” some of the existing bureaucracy.
He added: “It’s one area where we would like to see change, quite rapid change.
“Actually, the simple thing to do is to try to put in place a new UK policy as quickly as possible after we leave.
“Even if we keep with something that is initially very similar to what we have in the EU, there are still enormous amounts of paperwork, reporting requirements, audit requirements that go beyond what we think is necessary.
“At the very least, we would want to streamline some of the bureaucracy. We could have in place a new, much more coherent UK policy that could take effect from when we leave the EU.”
After Mrs May said Article 50 would be triggered by the end of March 2017, it has transpired that scenario is likely to happen two years later.
Mr Eustice added: “If you have got an opportunity to design it so that it works better, you should probably take the opportunity to do that sooner rather than later.”
NFU Scotland President Allan Bowie said work to develop a UK framework must gather momentum and recognise the differing needs of the devolved nations.
He added: “With the marketplace some considerable distance from covering the true costs of production or properly recognising the environmental goods that Scottish farming provides, the design of future agricultural policy has to deliver the proper level of support Scottish farming and crofting needs.”
