DEFRA MINISTER Michael Gove has guaranteed that Scotland's agricultural funding will not be diminished by the 'Barnett Formula' after Brexit.

Speaking in a House of Commons debate on the UK Government's proposed agriculture bill, Mr Gove explicitly declared that the notorious formula – used to allocate all other public spending on the basis of the human population of each of the UK's devolved nations – would not be applied to the farm support budget, where it would effectively half what Scotland currently gets via the EU.

Defra is set to publish the terms of reference for a review of farm funding across the United Kingdom, but Mr Gove stressed: "I can guarantee that agricultural funding will not be Barnettised, and the generous – rightly generous ­– settlement that gives Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales more than England will be defended.

"More than that, I underline in particular the fact that we provide for all UK farmers a greater guarantee of future funding than farmers anywhere else in the European Union enjoy. Our funding is guaranteed until 2022, whereas in the EU the current common agricultural policy is guaranteed only to 2020. UK farmers have greater financial certainty than farmers anywhere else in Europe," he said.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell hailed Mr Gove's statements as 'great news for Scottish farmers': "Under the present arrangements, Scotland receives twice as much money for farming support than might be expected were the Barnett formula alone used to determine allocations," said Mr Mundell. "So Michael Gove’s commitment that future agriculture funding will not be Barnettised should be welcomed across the board. More details of future support arrangements will be announced shortly but this latest guarantee reinforces our commitment to Scottish farmers. It comes with the UK Government already having agreed to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support for Scotland until 2022."