Britain is resisting a European Commission plan that would reduce the £500,000 paid in farm subsidies to hereditary head of state Elizabeth Windsor.
The Commission wants to slash subsidies from taxpayers to the owners of big farms in order to rebut claims that the Common Agriculture Policy favours the rich. But a spokesperson for the British government told the Financial Times that there was “no clear link between wealth and the size of a farm”. Ms. Windsor is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. In the 2006 – 2007 financial year her income from agricultural land mostly in Northern England was £1.6m
According to the government 6,100 farms, 4 per cent of the total in Britain, would be affected if Commission rules were changed. The taxpayers of Europe pay £32bn a year to subsidise farmers.