Was foot-and-mouth money for farmers dropped after general election called off?
Oct 11 2007 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail MINISTERS were accused last night of withdrawing more than £6m in support for Welsh farmers affected by the foot-and-mouth outbreak, when it became clear there would be no general election this year. An initial draft of a statement to MPs from Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, prepared last week, promised £12m of Treasury cash for English farmers. The draft, seen by the Western Mail, went on to say, “I have also agreed with the chief secretary to the Treasury that Scotland should receive £8.1m and Wales £6.5m to assist them in countering the impacts of foot-and-mouth on their livestock farmers.” But when Mr Benn delivered the statement on Monday, two days after PM Gordon Brown announced there would be no early general election, the references to Wales and Scotland were changed to read simply “the devolved administrations are proposing to introduce their own schemes”.
