Ministers accused of breaking post-Brexit spending promise to English farmers

Exclusive: Figures show hundreds of millions of pounds from promised £2.4bn a year on agriculture not spent

The government has been accused of “breaking its promise” to English farmers, with hundreds of millions of pounds missing from the farming budget.

Ministers had promised that by the end of this parliament, they would spend £2.4bn a year on agriculture. This money was to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy, which paid farmers per hectare of land they managed. Instead, the government promised that farmers could improve the natural environment and be paid handsomely for delivering public goods, thus helping nature and keeping farms in business.