A SERIES of reforms which will have a deep impact on British farmers do not go far enough according to North Swindon MP Michael Wills.

The former Home Office minister said the government needed to push through bigger changes if a "nonsense" policy of over-subsidising farmers at taxpayers' expense were to end.

He said: "These steps are important and the message is that real progress has been made.

"But there is much still to be done."

The Labour MP's comments came as the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced a timetable for implementing reforms to the notorious Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Farmers and environmentalists have been asked how best to implement the changes to CAP which were agreed in a European summit meeting by the Government last month.

Central to these reforms was a decision to break the link between farm subsidies and production.

It was this link which infamously led to over-production and 'butter mountains'.

Mr Wills said: "These changes are all well and good but the fundamental problem is that the over-support of agriculture remains and it is going to need bigger reforms."

It was unfair to spend "half the EU budget for the next 10 years" on propping up farmers, he said, adding "It's nonsense".

He insisted reforming the policy would help British farmers.

He said: "There are farms around Swindon which are excellent and if government help was better tailored to them it would be an enormous benefit for the future. We are all suffering under the current system."

The changes to agricultural policy cannot be implemented until January 2005 at the earliest.