Author: Jamie Mann in The Ferret
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| Billionaire lairds, sporting estates and Conservative Party donors in receipt of millions of pounds of public grants are among the owners of businesses which broke the rules around rural subsidies, The Ferret can reveal. |
| Scotland’s rural payments schemes are largely designed to help farmers and land managers make a decent living, while promoting food production, jobs, sustainable land management and woodland creation. |
| But inspectors found rule-breaking on a mass scale between 2018 and 2022, mostly from applicants claiming more money than eligible for, data we obtained via freedom of information shows. |
| Owners or partners of companies with the most breaches include some of the UK’s richest people, hereditary lords, and the brother of Scottish secretary Alister Jack. Others include a NatureScot board member and former chair of Scottish Land and Estates, and a former adviser to Defra, which administers rural payments in England. |
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Some are former Tory politicians, while others have collectively given nearly £1 million to the party, including directly to Alister Jack, and to Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross. |
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