Politics

As a farmer’s son, and someone who married into a farming family, I understand the importance of a properly functioning internal UK market to the agriculture sector, says Paul Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives.

The Government has left businesses in a state of Brexit uncertainty for too long, and it still remains unclear how we will trade with the EU in less than 100 days. That is astonishing, says Sue Pritchard, chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.

The National Trust has defended keeping its farm advisors on furlough at a pivotal time for the agriculture sector.

Defra’s new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will not help farmers prepare for the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, a coalition of green groups has warned.

The House of Lords has voted to ban low-standard food imports under any future trade deals with a majority of 95.

The NFU has set out proposals for how the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme should work, after industry raised concerns about Defra’s ‘lacklustre’ plans.

Defra Secretary George Eustice has rejected calls from farming groups and MPs to put the Trade and Agriculture Commission on a statutory footing.

The Internal Market Bill will force all four UK nations to submit to the lowest common denominator when it comes to standards, selling farmers down the river, says Liberal Democrat agriculture spokesperson Tim Farron.

Brexit has been out of the headlines since Covid hit, but now it’s well and truly back in view and heading straight for us. It’s time to buckle up, says Cumbria livestock farmer Will Case.

Farmers have learned more than they ever wanted to know about trade and international treaties since Brexit, and it should not be too much to ask for those who govern us to do the same, says Dr Nick Fenwick, FUW’s head of policy.