€5.2bn pledge to boost Northern Irish farmers

Britain will fill a gap of £4.5bn (€5.21bn) in funding for agriculture, universities, and its regions, when Britain leaves the European Union, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said.

Mr Hammond’s comments will reassure Northern Irish farmers, who are heavily dependent on EU money and access to the European market.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner last month, Villanova University economist, Professor Michael Curran, said that Northern Irish farmers, who count on the EU for 80% of their income, could be the hardest hit by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.