EXCLUSIVE - Victoria Atkins: "It seems that the Government has got it in for the countryside"

Shadow Defra Secretary Victoria Atkins writes on Labour’s broken promises to farmers, how the Conservatives aim to win back rural communities at the next General Election and why the UK faces a food and farming emergency

Victoria Atkins

22 October 2025 • 5 min read

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Shadow Defra Secretary Victoria Atkins said: "The despondency felt in the agricultural sector is because Labour’s policies are making life harder and harder for you: from raising taxes and labour costs to axing the farm payment schemes that form part of your business plans."

Britain is entering a Food and Farming Emergency. As food prices continue to climb and business investment dries up, record numbers of farms are closing and record numbers of farmers are leaving the sector...

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