It remains unclear how much money will be available for farm support in the UK from 2025 onwards, a key farmer representative has said.

“There is a real lack of clarity over where things are going,” Phil Stocker from the National Sheep Association (NSA) told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Speaking in Ballymena on Tuesday, the NSA chief executive suggested it could be October before the Labour government gives details about the new budget for agricultural support.

“The working assumption among us is that it won’t be until after summer recess, and probably after the party political conferences, until we will start to see a bit more clarity about what’s coming,” he said.

Stocker said he welcomed the change in government and described the new Labour administration as “refreshing”.

“But is a bit frustrating at the moment that no decisions have been taken and people are really unclear about where a lot of the new schemes are going,” he said.

Although policymakers in Belfast design specific schemes for NI farms, it is dependent on the budget set by the UK government in London.