Ros in the Lords: Common Agricultural Policy

Tony Greaves posed the Minister a question about the greening of the Common Agricultural Policy on 30 July and, as the Chair of the relevant scrutiny committee, Ros thought that she ought to raise an issue that had troubled it in the recent past...

Baroness Scott of Needham Market: My Lords, given the very different patterns of agriculture across the 28 member states, to what extent is there flexibility within the new arrangements for member states to implement the greening measures in a way that suits British farmers and builds on some of the very real progress that they have already made?

Lord De Mauley: My Lords, my noble friend makes an important point. We have fought hard to achieve an element of flexibility in the greening requirements. Perhaps we have not got as far as we would have liked but we are negotiating with nearly 30 other states and, of course, the Parliament.