BPS cuts were ‘probably’ needed to save farming budget, says Bradshaw

Steep cuts in direct payments to farmers in England are probably the price that had to be paid for Defra to be able to maintain the agricultural budget, NFU president Tom Bradshaw has suggested.

The 30 October Budget set agricultural spending by Defra at £2.6bn in 2025 and £2.4bn in 2026 – compared with the current £2.4bn.

It was also announced that delinked payments to farmers (previously the Basic Payment Scheme or BPS) would be cut by 76% compared with the 2020 base level, taking a previous £30,000 payment to just £7,200, with no payments above that level.

See also: Defra minister plays down impact of IHT changes

Despite this massive blow to farmers’ cashflows from 2025, Mr Bradshaw said Defra ministers deserved some credit, because the decision had been entirely driven by the Treasury.

“In reality, that was probably the deal that had to be done to secure the budget in the first place,” he told this week’s Egg and Poultry Industry Conference in south Wales.

While Defra farming minister Daniel Zeichner declined to confirm or deny this, he did point to the “really difficult budgetary position” inherited from the previous Conservative government.

“The choice I made – and I think it is the right choice – is to accelerate the agricultural transition and to give people confidence to know that we are absolutely committed to it,” he said.

Mr Bradshaw said he was disappointed the Defra budget had not increased.

“But in the very, very difficult political environment, I think [Mr Zeichner] did well to at least secure the farming budget. It would have been very easy to lose that money.”

Budget underspend

Mr Bradshaw also commented on the £358m underspend by the previous government – money removed from English farmers’ BPS payments over three years and not returned to them through Environmental Land Management schemes.

“That’s because of the incompetence of the last government, so it’s not fair to blame this government, who inherited that underspend,” he told Farmers Weekly.

He was, however, pleased that some £200m had been added to the Defra budget for 2025.

“To be honest, we thought that was going to be lost,” he said. “To get the £5bn over a two-year period is something Defra as a department and a ministerial team should be proud of.”

Spring review

Mr Bradshaw said his greatest fear was that there was no ring-fenced budget for the next financial period, which could be affected by the next spring spending review.

There was also an issue with unfair competition within the UK, as farmers in the devolved regions have yet to see any cuts to their BPS payments, and some continue to enjoy coupled supports, such as beef headage payments in Scotland.