FARMERS and rural businesses in the central Borders pocketed around £20m in European Union subsidies last year.

But local SNP MP Calum Kerr believes the region is still not getting a fair deal from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and that payments should be higher.

He is also stressing the adverse impact on the rural economy if Britain votes to leave the EU in next year’s in-out referendum.

Mr Kerr, who is his party’s lead spokesperson in Westminster on rural affairs, food and drink, told the Border Telegraph: “There is no doubt that farmers in the Borders benefit hugely from CAP payments and they will clearly be concerned about what will happen to these important subsidies in the event of a 'no’ vote in the referendum.

“We need a fair and secure deal for our vital rural economy which already has some of the lowest CAP allocations in Europe.

“That is why I am delighted to have secured a written undertaking from the Westminster Government that it will look again at EU convergence uplift payments which should have come to Scotland, but were handed out across the UK instead.

“The need to protect our farming communities is the reason why the SNP is proposing a double majority in the referendum, meaning that exit from the EU is only possible if all four nations of the UK agree to it – something that will ensure that Scotland could not be forced out of the EU against our will.” Mr Kerr was commenting after the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published the subsidies disbursed in the last EU calendar year – from October 16, 2013, to October 15, 2014.

The payments cover a range of CAP schemes, including single area payments and subsidies for the afforestation of agricultural land, food quality schemes and environmental and tourism projects.

Payments in the Galashiels (TD1 postcode area) over the 12 months totalled over £3.51m, with a number of six-figure recipients, including L. G. Litchfield (Bowland) £378,366, William Montgomery £195,477, T & J Elliot £162,049, Southern Upland Partnership £168,000, A & E Brown £141,423, T. Elliot (Bedshiel) £127,391, J. Runciman (Lugate) £109,156, J. Runciman & Sons £108,030 and J. G. Runciman £100,102.

In the TD7 (Selkirk) area, where £4.66m was disbursed, principal beneficiaries included BQ Farming Partnerships £281,171, Langholm Farms Ltd £277,468, W. N. Douglas £220,405, Eckford Farming Ltd £192,022, Sir F. M. Strang Steel £152,304, T. Renwick & Sons £142,812, MacDonald Partners £129,942, Swinside Farming £129,573, Matinley Farms £119,943 and John White & Sons £103,123.

In Melrose/St Boswells (TD6) area, payments totalling £2.61m included Mertoun Estates £201,924, Maxwell (Faughhill) £162,145, Riddell Farms £124,849, Malcolm Stewart £124,403, George Marshall £109,928, T. D. Wight £106,100 and F. & C. M. Forster £105,669.

Total payments of £2.26m were made in the Lauder (TD2) area, including to William Barr & Co £190,388, Firm of Sutherland £183,517, W. H. Sharp & Son £160,093, Huntington Partnership £132,027 and W. Runciman £105,943.

In Jedburgh (TD8), the subsidies totalled £4.62m, with the following receiving six figure sums: G. Barbour & Son £252,013, Nisbet Mill Farm £218,381, Borders Forest Trust £194,864, Robert Neill & Partners £191,158, A. & A. Scott £170,677, Scottish Borders Brewery £154,032, Fenwick Jackson £126,181, R. Tile £121,719 and The Firm of Samieston £100,118.

In Peebles, which is in the EH45 postcode area, payments totalling £2.34m included J. P. Campbell £352,656, Glenrath Farms £130,134, Haystoun £124,706 and J. B. Currie £124,248.