My Lords, I listened carefully to what the noble Earl said in moving his amendment. For a number of reasons I will set out, I will argue that his amendment does not go far enough and is inherently flawed. Were he minded to withdraw it, I would be happy to step into the breach. Subject to what the Minister has to say, I may be minded to move my amendment in that regard.
5.30 pm
There are two reasons why my Amendment 26 is preferable to Amendment 15. Like the noble Earl, Lord Devon, I believe that this Bill should relate to farming and financial assistance for primarily farming activities. As I say in my explanatory statement, this amendment seeks to ensure
“that financial assistance is targeted at active farmers and land managers who are operating units which are predominantly agricultural in nature.”
This is important because it is inclusive; it will ensure that tenants who have benefited substantially from current arrangements, which are going to be phased out, continue to benefit in the future. The amendment sets out in proposed new paragraph (a) what those circumstances will be. More specifically, proposed new paragraph (b) says that
“financial assistance may only be made available to individuals or groups of individuals, natural or otherwise, who are” —
this is important—
“in occupation of the land for which the financial assistance is being claimed”.
If the tenant occupies the land and is performing the activity, by definition they should continue to be able to claim. It would be highly regrettable if a landowner, other than by the very nature of owning the land, claims a prior right, meaning the tenant is no longer able to claim for that land.
The second criterion I set out is:
“taking entrepreneurial risk for the decisions made in relation to the management of the land for which the financial assistance is being claimed.”
The third criterion is being
“in day-to-day management control of the land for which the financial assistance has been claimed.”
The entrepreneurial risk is important. Just because you happen to own the land does not mean you are taking any of the risk involved. We have left the European Union, and this is something we had great difficulty in arguing under the conditions of the CAP; I tried to argue this case with Commissioner Fischler and some of his predecessors and successors. Their eyes would glaze over, because they did not understand the concept of tenant farmers, which is so well developed in this country. We have a unique opportunity to set out what the rights of tenant farmers should be. I regret—I am sure this was an innocent oversight—that tenant farmers may be excluded from the provisions of Amendment 15. That is something the noble Earl, Lord Devon, might like to consider in this amendment, and which the Minister, in summing up, might consider too.
Moving away from direct payment and the existing agri-environment schemes to this new scheme, I hope that the Minister will be particularly mindful of the plight of tenant farmers, who are almost overwhelmingly dependent on tilling the land and benefiting from the schemes they have hitherto benefited from. I hope that he will assure us that tenant farmers will continue to benefit, because I have cause to be concerned that that may not be the case. That is the purpose behind my Amendment 26.