Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Glen and Daniel Zeichner

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

Last year I visited the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton project in Loddington. May I commend the contribution that it can make to defining sustainable intensification of agricultural food production? Perhaps it would be a suitable place for a DEFRA ministerial away day early in the new year, to help with the use strategy.

[Daniel Zeichner]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his suggestion. I am a great admirer of the Allerton project and have been meaning to visit it for a long time. My officials are working on a visit, and I am really looking forward to engaging with those people, because they do great work.

Budget: Implications for Farming Communities

Debate between John Glen and Daniel Zeichner

Monday 4th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Zeichner]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right that farming is very tough right across the country and very difficult in Wales. It is a devolved issue, so I will not comment on specific schemes in Wales, but I point her back to the Treasury figures that show the number of people who made claims for APR. It is relatively few, and I would say it is probably relatively few in Wales.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

I spent most of the past six years looking at Treasury figures and I have a great deal of sympathy for the hon. Gentleman. I fear he is a victim of a hit-and-run exercise by the Treasury on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budget. He would do well to think about the lessons learned from the pasty tax, because if he is not careful this measure will be of a similar dimension for this Government.

[Daniel Zeichner]

I am very grateful for the right hon. Gentleman’s concern, but I have to say I do not agree with him.