MINISTERS BACK DOWN ON ARTICLE 68

9.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 12th Jun 2009

Jim Hume, Liberal Democrat MSP for the South of Scotland, has today welcomed the announcement by Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Richard Lochhead, that his proposal to implement Article 68 have been dropped.

Article 68 would have resulted in top slicing of the single farm payment, causing concern in the industry that it could have a damaging effect on vulnerable farm businesses.

Speaking after today's statement, Jim Hume said:

"The Cabinet Secretary's decision to reverse his plan to implement Article 68 is welcome. Through the CAP health check Article 68 could have seen up to 10% removed from all single farm payments to help support specific sectors, but there was never any guarantee that the redistribution of that money would have had any significant benefit.

"This idea would have failed to address the loss of livestock from our farms and would have caused real damage to other parts of the industry.

"The right decision was taken and we now need to work on a comprehensive and integrated policy approach which will ensure the success and longevity of livestock farming. Amongst other measures, I hope that Brian Pack's review of the single farm payment will go some way towards achieving this."