Single Farm Payment (No. 2)

EDM number 1487 in 2006-07, proposed by James Paice on 16/05/2007.

That this House notes the request made by the Prime Minister to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in May 2006 for the Government to improve its capacity to deliver the Single Farm Payment on time; is therefore deeply concerned that English farmers have now been paid less in single farm payments than they were at this stage last year; recognises that this is causing serious hardship among farmers and is putting them at a competitive disadvantage with counterparts not just in mainland Europe but elsewhere in the UK; notes that nearly one-third of English farming households now live below the low-income threshold; and believes that repeated apologies by the Secretary of State are no substitute for effective action both to ensure that farmers are paid on time and to avert the prospect of UK taxpayers having to pay punitive fines to the EU as a result of his Department's continuing failure.

This motion has been signed by a total of 70 MPs.