Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Possible breakthrough in talks over funding

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing joined farming leaders to discuss funding of the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing joined farming leaders to discuss funding of the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme.

Farming lobbyists appear to have make some headway  in their campaign to force the Scottish Government to maintain Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme funding (LFASS) at 100% of current levels.

Speaking after a meeting in Stirling with the farmers’ union’s LFA committee and representatives from the national beef and sheep associations, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing pledged to provide detail of his “proposed direction of travel” within weeks.

He said he would “explore every available option” and insisted he was determined to continue funding the vital support at 100% through to 2021”.

It is the government’s latest concession in the ongoing LFASS saga after Mr Ewing provoked outrage last week by announcing funding would be cut to just 20% of current levels in 2020-21 before performing a U-turn in Parliament and upping the guarantee to no less than 80% in both 2019-20 and 2020-21.

However, that figure – £52 million rather than the current £65m – still falls far short of what the farming industry insists is required.

NFU Scotland’s (NFUS) LFA committee chairman Robert Macdonald said any shortfall in support was “completely unacceptable”.

“We are committed to working with the cabinet secretary and his officials to identify routes to making up any shortfall and to fully restore the LFASS budget back to £65m for all future scheme years,” he said.

“I absolutely believe it is in our shared interests to identify a route to fully restore LFASS budgets and provide a vital financial boost to farmers and crofters who are forging a living out of some of the hardest land in the country while also preserving the beautiful, natural landscapes which they tend to.

“The fact that the cabinet secretary was keen to attend our meeting at such short notice is recognition of how seriously the Scottish Government is taking the matter.”

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk