The government has announced a review to deliver fair funding for farmers if the UK leaves the EU.

The Secretary of State has announced that an independent advisory panel will look at what factors should determine the distribution of agriculture funding between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in this Parliament.

This will consider each country’s individual circumstances, including environmental, agricultural and socio-economic factors.

Farm numbers and farm sizes will also be taken into account to make sure all parts of the UK are treated fairly.

The review, led by Lord Bew of Donegore, will provide recommendations for how the annual amount of convergence funding is fairly split between the four countries in the remainder of this Parliament if the UK leaves the Common Agricultural Policy. It will be informed by previous allocations but will not revisit these decisions or redistribute money that has already been committed.

The government is also committing that it will not simply apply the Barnett formula to changes in Defra funding beyond this Parliament. This means that farmers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will not just be allocated funding according to the population size of each nation, which are in each case significantly smaller than England.

The government has already confirmed that overall funding for UK farm support will be protected in cash terms to the end of the Parliament in 2022.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: "We are committed to making sure that future funding is fairly allocated, and are also confirming that the government won’t simply apply the Barnett formula to Defra’s funding beyond this parliament."