DEFRA's secretary of state Owen Paterson has come under fire for comments he made during his presentation at this year's Oxford Farming Conference.

Paterson repeated his wish for direct payments paid out of Pillar 1 of the CAP to end, something he acknowledged may not be finalised until 2020.

Scottish rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead has accused Paterson of ignoring the views of Scotland’s farming industry by calling for farm payments to cease.

He said: “He is making DEFRA policy the UK policy – yet this has not been agreed at all with the other agricultural ministers in the UK.

“Removing direct payments for farm businesses would lead to bankruptcy for many and undermine Scotland’s ability to produce food and safeguard rural communities.”