The UK’s push for reform of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy was boosted yesterday with new research showing the extent to which the sub- sidy regime increases the inequalities between rich and poor regions.

The two-year study, one of the most comprehensive undertaken of the CAP, shows that even after the recent CAP reforms, rich regions in Germany, the UK, France and the Netherlands will take a greater slice of the €90bn farming subsidies than poorer regions in southern and eastern Europe, accentuating the difference between rich and poor rural regions.