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England Rural Development Programme (Closure of Project-Based Schemes) Regulations 2006

That is a very good question but I will have to come back on it at the time. We have to have some contingency plans, but we hope that that will not happen. We are in constant touch with Brussels. I do not want to be negative, but I will face the situation when it arises. If it does happen, though, I hope it will not be a surprise and that we have a plan B. We want to do it this way and we have to look at other aspects of voluntary modulation for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is vital to them. It is a consequence of historical decisions that have been made in the past. We freely admit in this country that we did not spend and prioritise as much in the past on rural programmes, which is the root cause of our losing out on the totality of funds. That was a mistake. Some 25 per cent of the population live in rural areas. They may not work in rural areas and they do not depend on agriculture, but the spin-off for the rural economy is enormous. We are paying the price for past errors, but we must do the best we can to get an early decision and then make sure we can get schemes up and running as soon as possible. I will write about the detailed issues and the breakdown. It may not be possible; as I said, the figure is £1.3 billion, but I cannot give the breakdown for England. I will write to confirm if that is the case.