North Yorks MP vows to push ministers over £253m farming fund backlash

(Image: Newsquest / Supplied)

LABOUR politicians in North Yorkshire have acknowledged problems with the rollout of a £253 million Government farming scheme that ran out of money in less than a day, leaving farmers unable to access support.

Scarborough and Whitby MP Alison Hume has admitted the Government was “wrong” in the way it handled the latest round of the £253 million sustainable farming incentive (SFI) scheme in England. The policy pays farmers to use eco-friendly farming practices and has replaced the EU’s common agricultural policy.

The scheme opened on September 22 at 10am, and by 4pm that day, the Government confirmed the 2026 SFI scheme was closed for applications, with the entire budget allocated.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Ms Hume vowed to push ministers to change how future applications are handled.

The member of the Labour Rural Research Group said: “We had really lobbied to avoid the repeat of a first-come, first-served system, and somehow that message didn’t get through to Defra, and we did exactly the same.

“I’m proud of the extra money that we put in. It shows the appetite for farmers out there for help. We put in more money, but we did it wrong.”

Alison Hume MP.

The MP said the approach favoured larger agricultural businesses with professional advisers over smaller family farms and described it as “just wrong, wrong, wrong”.

The Government has said it plans to offer an SFI scheme in 2027 and will look to open next year’s offer “as early as possible to ensure farmers can access funding”.

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Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, said he was “deeply concerned and angry at the way the scheme had been designed, managed, and communicated over the past 18 months,” in a letter co-signed by the Shadow Environment Secretary, Victoria Atkins.

“We have heard personal accounts of farmers missing out on submitting their applications by mere seconds or because they were busy farming and planning on applying that afternoon or evening,” the letter stated.

Responding to criticism from farmers who have said that Labour doesn’t understand rural communities, Ms Hume said: “I understand my community. I go to the shows, and I see the people there, and I look them in the eye. They know I’ve stood by them through the wildfires, I’ve been fighting for wildfire rights, and I’m going to carry on doing that.

“I think Labour has made big strides forward in supporting farmers to be profitable.

“We’ve got a long way to go, and it hasn’t helped us with the SFI window, but I’m listening to my farming community, and I know that they value that.”

Mayor David Skaith, Richmond's Old Station. Courtesy Anttoni Numminen/LDRS

David Skaith, the elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, also said more needed to be done to support farmers,

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) in Liverpool, Mr Skaith said: “We’re doing a huge amount in York and North Yorkshire with Grow Yorkshire, with the NFU, the CLA and other organisations, but we are in a place where we need to show how important food security is.”

“We’re really keen to showcase that we’re not just talking about defence security and energy security, but food security has to be paramount as well.”