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<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">This week the talk in Orkney
has naturally centred on the
mishandled delivery of
the Future Farming
Investment Scheme (FFIS).</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
Two weeks ago the Cabinet
Secretary for Agriculture
came to the Scottish
farmers\u2019 union annual
conference with a shiny new
promise of extra funds for
the FFIS. At the time it
looked like a classic SNP
wheeze \u2013 tack on a few
million pounds to get a
decent press release for the
day. The Future Farming
Investment Scheme was a
great idea in concept and
everyone \u2013 myself included \u2013
was happy to welcome it in
June when it was announced,
so to bring in a little
extra money ought to have
been an easy win.
</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">Two weeks on from that
announcement, however, the
FFIS funding boost looks
less like cunning PR spin,
and more like a \u201ctoo little,
too late\u201d attempt to head
off a looming PR disaster.
The delivery of FFIS has
turned out to be a shambles,
as any of the Orkney farmers
who applied and were
rejected for no clear reason
can tell you.</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">Island crofters and farmers
were specifically supposed
to be targeted as
beneficiaries according to
the Scottish Government. By
their own words the FFIS was
supposed to \u201cprovide
priority support in a number
of areas, including for new
entrants, and young farmers,
small farms and tenants\u201d. In
practice, however, Orkney
received less than 3.5% of
the funds.</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">Someone really ought to tell
the SNP that they are at
least one month too early to
be playing the part of
Scrooge. Call me picky if
you like \u2013 but if you are
going to say that this
programme is aimed at small
farmers and crofters of the
sort that work across our
islands then 3.5% for Orkney
feels just a little low.</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
It is entirely unclear what
criteria was used in
granting support \u2013 or not,
as the case has proven to
be. Schemes like this must
be transparent and that has
not been the case thus far \u2013
though I am glad that Liam
McArthur has been leading
the charge this week in the
Scottish Parliament to get
answers. Anecdotally, there
seem to be serious concerns
about perceived
inconsistencies in how
applications have been
assessed, and the low
success rate among the
purported \u201cMinisterial
Priority Groups\u201d, which
should have included farmers
in places like the isles.
</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">In the wake of all this I
was somewhat surprised on
Tuesday morning to hear SNP
farming minister Jim Fairlie
on Radio Orkney claiming
that the scheme was in fact
very good and well designed
\u2013 it just didn\u2019t have enough
money in it.</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
Apparently the problem is
because of the nasty people
in the UK government (stop
me if you\u2019ve heard this one
before). To hear it from Mr
Fairlie \u2013 and flying in the
face of the funding boost
already announced \u2013 there is
no way to put more money
into the scheme or to fix
the seeming unfairness,
unless the UK government
boosted the SNP\u2019s budget in
turn.</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
That is of course nonsense
from start to finish. There
has never been anything
stopping the Scottish
government from topping up
agriculture budgets if they
so wished. If anything the
fear has always been that
the SNP will \u201cborrow\u201d farm
funds to pay for their pet
projects, something that
until recently they were
restricted from doing by the
agriculture ringfence.</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
We all know that the SNP has
form on this. They raided
part of the agriculture fund
two years ago to paper over
cracks in their budget.
Given the mess they continue
to make of Scotland\u2019s
finances there is every
reason to believe they will
do the same again if given
the chance. That is why we
have a right to have a
sceptical eye on the reasons
for farmers, and island
farmers in particular, being
short-changed again.</p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p
style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">We have a right to ask why
the SNP always seems find it
so difficult to get money
into island communities.
Cock up is always more
likely than conspiracy but
the outcome is what matters.
The FFIS funds could have
made a real impact for a lot
of local farmers and for the
wider community. Instead a
shiny SNP promise has turned
into another missed
opportunity.</p>
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<p
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As ever, if there are any
issues that you would like
to raise with me, please do
not hesitate to get in
touch. For specific casework
matters you can contact me
at <a
href="mailto:alistair.carmichael.mp@parliament.uk"
style="text-decoration: underline; color: #2b59c3;"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">alistair.carmichael.mp@parliament.uk</a>.</p>
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