MEL STRIDE, MP for Central Devon, has called for the Government to ensure protection and support for farmers and food security.
Last week, a Conservative Opposition Day motion pushed for the Labour Government to recognise the real and immediate challenges faced by British farmers as a result of wet weather and rising costs.
During the last parliament the farming budget was maintained at an average of £2.4 billion but reports suggest this budget is to be cut by £100 million.
According to research by the RSPB, this cut would mean at least 239,000 fewer hectares of nature-friendly farmland, and The National Farmers’ Union has said it would risk further undermining farmer confidence and damage food security.
Despite the wettest year on record, the Government has not yet paid out the previously committed £50 million extension of the Farming Recovery Fund to farmers hit by the wet weather, or the additional £75 million for internal drainage boards which are essential to protecting agricultural land from floods and storms.
Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: “In government the Conservatives ensured food security was high on the agenda by committing to grow 60 per cent of our food at home, introducing an annual food security report, and setting out plans to introduce a legally binding target to enhance our food security.
“Labour is making a political decision to deprioritise funding for farming and rural economies and has instead given priority to political point scoring and appeasing the trade unions.
“Farming and food security is vitally important, not just to my rural constituency but to the whole of the UK. The Government must now change its course in order to give confidence to the sector.”
