Budget: Implications for Farming Communities

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Monday 4th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Zeichner]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It seems that the Conservative party does not understand that if we raise taxes and invest in the future, we can do more to protect people who cannot protect themselves. It is vital that we tackle rural crime, which is a top issue that is raised with me consistently.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Stamford) (Con)]

At the Rutland ploughing contest this weekend, it was clear that farmers feel devastated. They feel that the Government do not understand them, because farmers do not have liquid wealth; they rely on land as their asset to produce food. They turn a small profit but have a very constrained cash flow. Indeed, they have the lowest return on assets of any business sector—an average return of less than 1%.

“Losing a farm is not like losing any other business. It can’t come back.”

Those are the Prime Minister’s words. As the Minister’s constituency is a near neighbour of mine, will he come and repeat them to my farmers in Rutland and Stamford, and have that discussion with them?

[Daniel Zeichner]

I have been on an extended farm tour for the last five years, and I am sure it will continue.

Planning, the Green Belt and Rural Affairs

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Friday 19th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Helen Morgan]

The hon. Gentleman is muttering from a sedentary position. He may wish to know that my grandparents lived in social housing, and I have no particular prejudices against it whatsoever.

We are committed not only to building the homes that are so important to easing the crisis throughout the housing market, but to ensuring that those new homes are of a high standard, that they are zero carbon and that they are built alongside proper infrastructure that provides communities with the services and amenities they need. Integrating public service delivery has to be part of the planning process, so in principle we welcome the Government’s plans to streamline the delivery of critical infrastructure, including in the housing sector, in the forthcoming planning and infrastructure Bill, but we need to be clear that the current system has benefited developers rather than communities. The Bill must take that into account.

Crude targets alone have led to many developments being given permission, only for affordable and social housing elements to be watered down on the basis of viability once permission is granted. That must change. We know that local authorities are best placed to make the decisions about housing in their areas, so I urge the Government to ensure that their mandatory housing targets are built from the bottom up—by determining the type of housing and infrastructure communities need, and empowering local government to build social homes where they are most needed. We need the necessary infrastructure, including GPs, schools, bus stops and bus routes, while also ensuring that there is appropriate green space and access to the countryside, which is important for health and wellbeing. Our experience is that residents support good plans with good infrastructure.

Now, I imagine that we will use the term “nimby” in this debate, and it has already been used about the Liberal Democrats, but it is not appropriate to approve housing in areas that are unsuitable—for example, where there is a high risk of flooding. It is not being a nimby to oppose poor planning; it is common sense. Local authorities are under enormous pressure and we know that their planning departments are overstretched. I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s comments on that point. They need proper funding to ensure that they make good and consistent decisions, and that their councillors are well advised.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Stamford) (Con)]

The hon. Member is talking about infrastructure and about decisions being made in the best interests of our communities, so can I ask why Liberal Democrat-run Rutland county council this week turned down an application for a new day care centre for people with special educational needs without even taking it to the planning committee, meaning that we now have to rely on the council’s service, rather than providing choice to ensure that anyone with learning disabilities or other disabilities in our community gets the support they need?

[Helen Morgan]

I do not know the details of that individual case, but we need to ensure that planning departments are properly funded so that the decisions made by planning officers are appropriate. Without knowing the details, I do now know whether it is a good development or a poor one, but those departments need to be empowered to make decisions correctly.

Some proposals for development are inappropriate and some are downright dangerous—we mentioned the building of houses on floodplains earlier. The only insurer to re-insure houses on floodplains is due to close its operations in 15 years’ time. We cannot build houses on floodplains. It will not be possible for them to be insured or sold; homeowners will be trapped.

We should also not be building housing developments without additional schools or GP surgeries. Most importantly, we should not be building housing developments where the developers do not prepare the roads and green spaces to an acceptable standard and do not allow them to be adopted by the local authority, but set up a shared management company and leave the homeowners fleeced for the rest of their home ownership experience. I encourage the Deputy Prime Minister to consider that in the forthcoming legislation.

Good councillors approve planning for good developments. That is why, on the days when the Conservatives are not accusing us of being nimbys, they are telling people that we are going to concrete over their countryside.

Planning is not just about housing. We have many demands on our countryside: housing, renewable energy, nature restoration and, importantly, the growing of food. We need to simplify planning so that all those things can happen. Housing, renewable energy and job creation are incredibly important, but I urge the Government to ensure that when they go ahead, it is not at the expense of food production. The Liberal Democrats have called for the development of a land use strategy so that these important and competing demands can be balanced, and so that we use land in the optimal way, protecting the highest grade arable land for food production and putting the infrastructure of renewable energy and housing in less prime places. I therefore hope that the Government will consider a land use strategy as part of their planning reform.

That brings me to another important area of the countryside: our waterways and our beaches. It is a scandal that raw sewage has been allowed to be dumped into our rivers and on to our beaches, while water company executives have taken home huge bonuses and their—often overseas—shareholders have taken huge dividends. The Liberal Democrats are proud to have led the campaign to end the sewage crisis. We welcome the water (special measures) Bill and will be watching closely to ensure that the water regulator is given the powers it needs to finally end this sewage outrage.

I will move on to rural affairs. There was no mention in the King’s Speech of rural communities or priorities for the countryside, which I hope means that the new Government will be ensuring that every policy is rural-proofed and that the demands of delivering public services in rural areas, where the population is spread over a large area, are being considered.

I also want to mention the English devolution bill. The Liberal Democrats are the proud voices of local communities and community-led politics, and we absolutely welcome steps to devolve power away from Westminster, but I ask the Secretary of State to confirm what that will look like for those councils without a devo deal, a metro mayor or a combined authority mayor. It is important that all local councils have the powers and funding to deliver for their communities. That funding must reflect the cost of delivering services in rural areas. Rural councils have been taken for granted for far too long. We need to ensure that people who live in rural areas, who also see increases in their council tax, are getting the public services that they deserve.

Rurality affects the delivery of all types of services, but I want to touch on just a few key areas. Health is an important issue in my North Shropshire constituency, where we have seen huge problems with GP and dentistry access and a crisis in our A&E service. While I welcome the Government’s plans to tackle the crisis in mental health service provision, which is also a big problem in rural areas, we really want to see rural-focused policy to deal with the recruitment crisis in rural areas and the cost of delivering health services over large distances, and to ensure that people who live a long way from a hospital or diagnostic centre can travel to it more easily.

That brings me to public transport, which is quite problematic in Shropshire. We have lost 63% of our bus miles since 2015, which makes it difficult for anybody to access work opportunities, social opportunities, educational opportunities and, indeed, health services. I am really pleased that the Government will allow local authorities to franchise their own bus services—the Liberal Democrats have long called for that—but I would like to see the detail of how that will work and how we will get the funding to kick-start those routes and get labour moving properly around our countryside.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Stamford) (Con)]

I join the House in thanking His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen for their dedicated service and continued example to us all. I welcome all the new Members to this place and I congratulate the hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Luke Myer) on his maiden speech.

It is a great privilege to be returned to this House, having served the people of Rutland and Melton for four years. However, I am returned to represent the wonderful people of Rutland, Stamford and the Harborough and South Kesteven villages. I would like to take a moment to reflect on the new communities I serve, because it may not be known that service runs deep in south Lincolnshire.

In world war two, our communities on their own raised enough money for a Spitfire to fight for our country. It is also in our communities where the apple dropped for Sir Isaac Newton in 1687. And a long, long time ago, Bytham castle was known to have a Lady Alicia, the lady of Bytham. I suspect I shall not be getting that title. [Interruption.] I bless you all! It is also home to Easton walled gardens, a place President Franklin D. Roosevelt described as

“a dream of Nirvana...almost too good to be true.”

So it is no surprise that Stamford’s honey stone streets, whose patterns have essentially remained the same since Saxon times, often grace the pages of the best places to live in this country. It was also a filming site for “Pride and Prejudice”, “The Da Vinci Code” and “Middlemarch”. Most recently, Grimsthorpe castle was home to “Bridgerton”.

Somewhat uniquely for a parliamentary seat, Rutland and Stamford sits across three counties, Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire, so I have my work cut out for me. What unites us is the rural landscape and traditions we share: our rural way of life embodied in the fields, farms and natural environment we are blessed to inhabit and hope to bequeath to the next generation. But protecting our green and pleasant lands is not about sentimentality. Our rural environment is the true workhorse of our country. Lincolnshire and Rutland alone produce 30% of the UK’s vegetables, 18% of our poultry, 30% of our turkeys and 20% of all English wheat. We are the agriculture super-producer of our country.

Yet the King’s Speech offered very little for us. It continued in the same vein as the Labour party manifesto, which did not mention the word “rural” even once, by ignoring the concerns of rural communities and ignoring farmers. It has put forward a different approach to development, setting out centralised powers for Westminster to impose projects on the countryside and stripping away the voice of local people. The consequences of that approach were apparent last week when the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero imposed three mega solar plants on communities, two of which sit within Lincolnshire and Rutland.

During the last Parliament, I consistently opposed the Mallard Pass solar plant and was dismayed to see the Secretary of State wave it through after only three working days in the job. Yesterday, he referred to himself as a “super-nerd”. I would never question his self-classification, but I do question how somebody could read over 3,000 pages of quasi-judicial documentation in just that time, while also getting to grips with a new Department. That perhaps explains why he missed or ignored the fact that even the Planning Inspectorate told him to turn down one of those applications.

There are well-documented links between Uyghur forced labour and the primary developer behind Mallard Pass. Labour has said it wants a renewal in public life and a focus on public service, but I ask where the sense of duty is to responsible and considered governance when decisions are made, frankly, for a propaganda announcement to say what the Government have done in their first seven days—decisions that solely affect Conservative-voting communities. Together these three solar plants will remove 6,000 acres of good-quality agricultural land, the land that feeds our country and powers our nation.

I want to delve more into the issue of slave labour. For years I have spoken out against what is taking place in Xinjiang. This House—including the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero—voted to declare what was taking place a genocide. In opposition, Labour promised that should they become the party of government they would not only declare it formally a genocide, but would take the Chinese Government to court—I look forward to updates on that activity—but in government they have decided to carpet our countryside with solar panels produced by the blood of Uyghur slave labourers. The company behind the Mallard Pass, Canadian Solar, was found by our Foreign Office to have the highest complicity in Uyghur forced labour. It has been sanctioned by the United States Government for its

“ongoing campaign of repression against Muslim minority groups”.

This is a company whose representative rang my office and asked what I wanted to drop my opposition. Is that a company that we want operating on our land?

[Dame Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on her speech. Does she agree that there would be full support on the Conservative Benches for measures to ensure that the supply chain for solar panels does not include slave labour?

[Alicia Kearns]

I agree entirely with my right hon. Friend, who has an incredible history as one of the greatest parliamentary advocates for tackling slave labour.

Will the Minister apologise, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, to the 32 anti-slave labour non-governmental organisations that opposed the Mallard Pass development. Will he apologise to the British people for signing over thousands of acres of prime agricultural land to such a company, and will he apologise to the 3,400 people whose petition I presented in the Chamber, with the highest number of wet signatures ever presented in this Parliament? Does he accept that the loudest statement made last week was not that we stand four-square behind renewables in this place but that we are giving the green light to all companies complicit in Uyghur slave labour to flood our country with bloodied solar panels? This Government are happy to go green on blood labour, and I will not stand for it.

Very briefly, in respect of rural economies, I want to express my absolute opposition to the Government’s intention to charge VAT on independent schools. There are 10 in my communities that employ more than 2,000 people and are attended by well over 1,000 children with special educational needs. Furthermore, one in five of my constituents who are military personnel or veterans send their children to those schools. This is ideology and dogma, and there is also no plan to support our comprehensive schools.

[Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is, again, making a very fine speech. She is talking not only about pressure on those families, but about any other families who will then see those children going to the state schools in the area.

[Alicia Kearns]

My right hon. Friend is, as usual, on point. In Rutland alone there are only three places for new children in year 9. Where are these children going to go? Why are the Government punishing parents who want the best for their children? Before Labour Members try to suggest that I am an out-of-touch Tory, let me point out that my children go my local comprehensive, just as I did. However, I recognise that this is wrong for our country, wrong for our local education system, wrong for our military families, and wrong for those who rely on employment in our local schools. It is dogma once again, and I expected better.

The Government have shown a degree of good grace and maturity in adopting some of the previous Government’s Bills for their agenda. It is a sign of political strength for a Government to acknowledge that other parties have good ideas, and to adopt them during their time in power. May I suggest that, in order to fill the blanks in their rural policy, the Government should look at ours? They should announce a £1 billion increase in the farming budget over the course of this Parliament. There should be reformed planning rules to support farming infrastructure. The introduction of legally binding food security targets should be at the heart of what the Government do, and they should recognise how much rural communities contribute to our communities. We provide the food that we eat, we offer an escape and access to nature, and we act as custodians for traditions stretching back deep into our history. I will work every single day for my communities, and I hope that the Government will see sense and do the same.

Groceries Supply Code of Practice

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Monday 22nd January 2024 Westminster Hall

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Murray. I congratulate the hon. Member for Neath (Christina Rees) on securing and leading this important debate. This issue matters so much to my farmers. I rise on behalf of the 400-plus farmers in Rutland, Melton, the Vale and the Harborough villages—people such as Ben Whyles, a fifth-generation farmer in Empingham—as well as all those in Stamford who reached out and asked me to speak today. At its best, the grocery supply code of practice should ensure a degree of stability in an industry that, by its nature, is risk-facing and vulnerable to external shocks and price fluctuations. Sadly, as we all know, farmers have faced a number of recent shocks to their livelihoods, ranging from fertiliser and feed prices, which rose after Putin’s renewed illegal invasion of Ukraine, to flooding, cold weather damage and the spread of avian flu over the last two years.

We all know that national food security is a Government priority, yet all too often there seems to be a disconnect between the recognition of the importance of food and how it is produced, and the reality where farmers are often left feeling that this rests solely upon their shoulders. To support farmers, we need to ensure that we speak up for them and help them to do their job, not only feeding our nation, but conserving the precious character of our countryside.

When it comes to food and drink, very few can compete with Rutland and Melton. Whether it be bison and lamb, chicken and eggs, dairy, elderflower, beef, sugar beet, crops—you name it, we have it. There is also the infamous stilton and Melton Mowbray pork pies—I considered pausing to allow the audience in the Gallery to provide that line, but we shall just move on swiftly. I would also like to give a specific shout-out to the amazing Allerton Project in Loddington, which I know the Minister visited. It leads a lot of the research into how we do sustainable farming and is decades ahead of the rest of the country—it really is leading the way.

Although we may say otherwise sometimes, farmers largely put their heads down, pull their socks up and crack on with producing the food we need. When they speak, we need to listen, and this is one of those times. This petition is not asking for the world, and the requests it makes are balanced, fair, and in my view—and clearly that of so many others—worthy of adoption by the Government. It also reflects the requests that so many of us have made since we came to Parliament.

I fully support the three asks: first, that suppliers should buy what they have agreed to buy; secondly, that suppliers should pay what they have agreed to pay; and thirdly, that the grocery supply code should ensure that they pay on time. It is really not that much to ask. The grocery supply code applies only to retailers with an annual turnover of £1 billion or more. These companies are surely more than capable of honouring the amount bought, the price given and the date of payment agreed. Time and time again, farmers have said that the balance of power is weighted towards large suppliers, leaving them underpaid and under-informed and feeling undervalued. These three common-sense additions to the code go some way to evening the scales towards fairness.

We saw this during the recent issue over the price of British sugar beet. While a deal has finally been reached, it was disappointing that so many farmers, particularly in my constituency, faced uncertainty over what price they would get for their crop. I know Ministers were very active in helping to resolve the dispute, and I thank them for their efforts, but we need to bring the same energy to this issue. It is therefore in that spirit of hope that I am also calling for the lowering of the threshold for inclusion in the supply code to retailers with a revenue of £500 million. That would spread the benefits of the code to many more farmers and provide a degree of economic certainty in these uncertain times.

We should acknowledge that the conversations we are having today are only possible because of the extra powers that we voted to give Ministers in the Agriculture Act 2020. I commend the Government for their drive to clamp down on unfair practices in food supply chains, but we need to use these powers to go that bit further, and demonstrate that we have a steadfast commitment to British farming by adopting the three simple asks in this petition.

I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate my ask for the establishment of a gas fertiliser price index, as we need to ensure transparency and fairness in the fertiliser market. We already have indexes for grain and many other commodities, and a fertiliser index would bring clarity to a market that is currently opaque and prone to damaging fluctuations.

I also thank the Government for announcing the biggest upgrade to UK farming schemes since we left the EU. We are seeing an increase of 10% to rates for the environmental land management scheme, which my farmers raised with me and are thankful for. We have seen plans to improve food labelling to protect farms better. We have seen far less paperwork—I am really hearing that on my monthly visits to a farm in my constituency—and enhanced payment for protecting our environment.

I thank the hon. Member for Neath again for leading this vital debate, and I thank the 286 people in Rutland and Melton, and the 276 in Stamford and Grantham, who signed this petition calling for reform to the grocery code. I hope this debate tells them that they have been heard. I am sure my right hon. Friend the Minister will show the Government’s willingness to help when he makes his comments, just as I stand here today and reassure you, if you are a farmer in Rutland, Melton, the Vale, the Harborough villages and the Stamford villages, that I, for one, will always stand on your side.

Storm Henk

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Monday 8th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Robbie Moore]

I am happy to write to the hon. Gentleman with the detail and figures he requires, but I reassure him that the Government are taking our farmers and the impacts on agricultural land incredibly seriously. That is why this weekend we announced that farmers who have suffered uninsurable damage to their land will be able to apply for grants of up to £25,000 through the farming recovery fund. That is a step where we have gone over and above what we have done before, and that is in recognition of the fact that the ground is absolutely saturated on the back of Storm Henk, Storm Babet and the constant rainfall we have had over the winter and autumn period.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

I have been out in our villages in Rutland, Leicestershire and nearby Lincolnshire, whether that is Whitwell, Oakham, Greatford or Braceborough. We have had appalling flooding, with people evacuated from their homes, water up our waists—you name it—and boats out getting vehicles, animals and people to safety. My Conservative councillors in Rutland have called for an urgent meeting of the council, but I am concerned that Rutland was not listed in the areas to be considered. Can my hon. Friend confirm whether Rutland County Council has submitted its data to the Environment Agency? If it has not, I am gravely concerned that we are missing out on the urgent support we need. There is no doubt that Rutland should be on the priority list.

[Robbie Moore]

I thank my hon. Friend for contacting me over the Christmas period to raise the ongoing concerns in her constituency, not only from Storm Henk, but from the repeated rainfall we have had. I will look at and review all the flooded areas over and above the eight county council areas that have already been announced to make sure that we are reviewing any data. I want to ensure that we are getting data in good time so that no one—businesses, householders and farmers—is missing out on funds because sufficient data is not being provided.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I am genuinely disappointed by the hon. Gentleman’s response, and his negativity is in danger of spreading across the Front Bench. We ran a pilot—that is why the uptake was low; it was because the pilot was small—and we listened to individuals who took part in that pilot. We tweaked those schemes in response to the pilot that we ran. That is good government. The way to organise and run such schemes is to listen to those who are taking part. We have listened, we have improved the payments, and there is now a great opportunity for our farmers across the country to engage in those schemes, improve our environment, improve biodiversity, produce great food, and make a profit.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

6. What recent steps her Department has taken to help support farmers with increases in the cost of (a) fertiliser, (b) feed and (c) energy.

[The Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries (Mark Spencer)]

We have taken a number of steps to help mitigate global factors that are increasing farming import costs, in fertiliser, feed, fuel and energy in particular. Those include working with industry and looking to ease restrictions on feed imports, and providing regulatory flexibility where possible. We have increased payment rates on our environmental land management schemes, supporting farmers to lower their import costs.

[Alicia Kearns]

Opaque fertiliser markets are damaging farmers’ confidence and their ability to plan and invest. To put forward a meaningful solution, what steps are the Government taking to establish a trusted gas fertiliser index, as exists with grain and other industries, to improve transparency in fertiliser, including new sources of fertiliser such as that provided by our friends in Jordan?

[Mark Spencer]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question and pay tribute to her work in this area. DEFRA established the ministerially chaired fertiliser taskforce with key stakeholders, in response to global fertiliser supply pressures. The taskforce identified improving market transparency as an important action to increase farmer confidence. Industry members are currently leading that work, with DEFRA playing a convening role.

Cost of Living: Support for Farmers

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Tuesday 12th July 2022 Westminster Hall

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered support for farmers with the cost of living.

It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I wish to quickly put on record my declaration of interests: I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group on dairy, co-chair of the APPG on farming, and chair of the APPG on geographically protected foods. On that note, I shall move on to the actual business.

The importance of food is finally returning to the national conversation. From food security and supply chain costs, to questions of quality, sustainability and the locality of our produce, our country’s relationship with food is a topic that breaches all divides and impacts on us all. During the pandemic, we all recognised the importance of buying local, and it was wonderful to see people going to the farmer’s gate and talking about how proud they were to support local producers. Fewer have been doing that of late, however, as people have returned to mass marketplaces.

In the recent debate on food and the cost of living, there is one constituency that has been consistently overlooked in our discussions about how to support our constituents through the cost of living crisis. It is our farmers who are most underappreciated and underdiscussed. They are the agricultural backbone of our nation, and they are under a tremendous amount of pressure. Rapid inflation in the sector is driving up the price of everything—from fuel and fertiliser, to machinery and labour costs. The crisis has coincided—and not by the Government’s doing—with the agriculture transition plan of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, under which the old support payments to farmers under the common agriculture policy are being reduced.

Although the Government are in the process of rolling out new support measures, the schemes are not ready for farmers to fully access them. The National Farmers Union, the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and the Institute for Government have all expressed serious concerns about the shortfall in support that is currently in place. The risks of the pressure being experienced—which, sadly, looks like it will become more and more sustained, and more and more heinous—are difficult to overstate. A recent NFU survey has demonstrated that 33% of arable farmers are planning to reduce their cropping next season; that 7% of dairy farmers plan to leave the industry altogether; and that 15% of pig producers have done so in the past six months alone.

The decline in agricultural output will spell disaster for the UK if we are not careful. It will result in food costs rising and our dependency on imports increasing, which is something that our constituents will notice. All of this will happen at a time when supply chains are buckling. Farms such as L&J Stanley in Harby, in my constituency, rightly point out that we should be making a greater effort to increase the amount of food that we grow in the UK. There are real ways in which the Government can step up and support farmers through this difficult period. As several of my colleagues compete for the privilege of serving as Prime Minister, I say to each of them—because I am certain that they are watching this debate—that a Conservative Government are a Government who support British agriculture, and that rurality and supporting our food makers and those who allow us to feed our families should be at the heart of our future policies for the economy.

On labour shortages, we all know the challenges that farmers are facing are severe, and our response therefore has to be significant. The public are acutely aware of the crisis in farming. We have all seen the photos of unpicked crops wilting in the sun, heard the stories of healthy livestock being unnecessarily culled due to a lack of abattoir workers, and felt the impact on our wallets of increased prices in shops and supermarkets. Constituents are particularly concerned when they see security markers and buttons put on products such as Lurpak, and people are unable to afford prices of £8 or £9 just to buy some butter.

A recent survey conducted by dairy giant Arla Foods, which operates in Melton Mowbray in my constituency, found that 80% of farmers looking for workers have received very few or zero applications from people with the right experience or qualifications. Looking back to my education at school and the quiz that pupils did to find out what job or profession they should do when they got older, I do not remember a single person being told they should be a farmer. Are our educationalists pushing people? In my neighbouring areas of Stanford, Peterborough, Corby, Nottingham, Leicester and so on—I have 13 neighbours; is a very busy neighbourhood—people would say that farming is not brought up as a legitimate career, even though the 460 square miles next door in Rutland and Melton offer amazing agricultural jobs. We have to start at the very base—looking at how we get people into the industry—because worker shortages are hammering farmers.

In the dairy sector, milk volumes are down by about 3%, compared with last year, and according to Arla’s survey a scarily high 11.9% of dairy farmers are considering leaving farming altogether if the situation does not improve. In the first instance, we urgently need to address labour shortages across the industry so that we can keep supply chains running and shops stocked. Contrary to certain popular perceptions, agriculture is a highly innovative and technological sector, but many of those innovations are in their infancy, and they cannot currently address a shortfall in labour. They definitely cannot do it when it is acute, quick and coming at farmers at great speed, in addition to the increased costs all around them.

We have to ensure that open positions are added to the Government’s shortage occupation list, to broaden the labour pool and help farmers keep their operations running. I also urge the Government to expand the seasonal agricultural workers scheme to satisfy the demand for labour, and ensure those seasonal visas cover work that needs to be done in the winter too, including the production of Stilton in my constituency—Stilton was invented in Little Dalby, and Long Clawson has amazing creators such as Tuxford & Tebbutt. Those businesses need workers between October and December, which is often not when the Government and civil servants think of providing additional visas.

The next issue is rising costs. We are all struggling with inflation, but the NFU estimates that agricultural inflation stands at over 25%. The Government’s agricultural price index shows that in the 12 months to April 2022, the price index for agricultural inputs increased by 28.4%.

I have spent the past few weeks speaking to farmers in my constituency ahead of this debate. One farmer, who represents I.W. Renner & Sons, which is one of our great farms in Normanton, told me that his main concern is the impact that inflation is having on the cost of fertiliser. Heavily linked to gas, fertiliser is an essential input related to crop yields, and rapid price increases have had a severe impact on output. Ammonium nitrate, a key component of fertiliser, cost £200 per tonne in January 2021, but now costs £900 per tonne if you are lucky. That quadrupling of costs is pushing farms to the brink, reducing product yields and quality and forcing them to transfer some of the costs on to consumers. Additionally, the recent closure of the CF Fertilisers Ince production site, which was once responsible for roughly 50% of domestic fertiliser production, has exacerbated the problem. The Government’s decision not to treat the facility as strategically important will have serious consequences for farming.

The significant increase in costs and the reduced availability of fertiliser will also likely reduce crop yields in UK farms in the coming years, much to our detriment. Many of my farmers are deciding not to grow any more bread wheat, and are changing to growing other types that require less fertiliser and are of lower quality.

The Government can make a real difference. Farmers in Rutland, Melton, the Vale and Harborough villages want us to boost domestic fertiliser production and secure domestic supplies as a priority. I also want to see us open our export markets to places such as Jordan and Canada, to broaden our farmers’ opportunities and move away from taking fertiliser from eastern Europe, which we know will continue to be a volatile market for a long time.

Finally, farmers ask that we increase transparency in the fertiliser market by establishing a gas-fertiliser index. Although we must accept that the Government cannot control the price of fertiliser, fertiliser markets are far too opaque. They threaten business confidence and farmers’ ability to invest for the long term. We all know that our farmers ask for as much resilience, certainty and stability as possible. The establishment of a trusted gas-fertiliser index within DEFRA, with relative global benchmark prices accounted for, would go a long way to help farmers prepare for market volatility. Given that such indices exist in the grain, dairy and meat markets, it is not unreasonable for farmers to expect greater transparency for fertiliser.

The next area of work is flexible support. As I said, the challenges facing farmers are being exacerbated by the fact that DEFRA is currently transitioning to alternative programmes of support, which most hon. Members fully support, but that is leaving funding shortfalls and hampering business confidence. Farmers are resorting to using all available support to tackle inflation and fund operational inputs, rather than look at structural investment. Jan from Northfield Farm in Whissendine in Rutland wrote to me about this, and she captured the essence of what farmers want to see from the Government:

“The support farmers most need is not some sort of handout, it is a programme that helps us to underpin our business across a wide range of areas.”

We can all agree that if we keep applying sticking-plaster solutions, our farmers will struggle to innovate, to compete and to continue to provide the vital products that we all take for granted. I ask the Government to look into introducing farm business loans to provide farms with the capital they need to break the inflationary cycle.

Key to the success of such a scheme would be repayment flexibility—for example, weighting repayments to a period of good return. DEFRA must be more sensitive to the economic cycle of farming, which I know the Minister understands full well, in order to make the most out of support measures. There exists ample opportunity for creating viable investment into modem and productive farming infrastructure.

It is clear that British farming is in a state of flux, and international and domestic pressures are significantly impacting on the sector. While some of the causes are far beyond the Government’s control, we need to tackle those challenges head on; otherwise, we will see an even more significant contraction in production over the next few years. For several of the issues I have raised today, there are concrete steps the Government can and should take to support our farmers.

When I talk to my farmers, it is clear that they are united—whether they represent the most remote Harborough village, are up in the Vale providing milk, or down on pig farms producing livestock down in Rutland. We have to assist with labour schemes, introduce a gas-fertiliser index and create flexible loans to boost investment. Those are the key asks from my farmers. I believe, as I know the Minister does strongly, that our farmers have stood by us over what have been a very difficult past two and a half years. They have kept high-quality, good, nutritious food on our tables. They have fought off vegan militias invading their lands.

I urge the Minister to look at my amendment to the Public Order Bill. I know that it is not in her brief, but it recognised that farms, food production sites and abattoirs should be considered sites of national infrastructure. That would prevent those vegan militias from breaking on to their sites, setting loose livestock, and abusing, intimidating and attacking my farmers. We have seen a big increase in that. Over the summer, shamefully, activist groups are planning to disrupt national dairy supplies across the entire country. These are organised groups, with over 500 people planning to do that.

Our farmers have fed us, protected us and kept our green and pleasant land exactly that. They have stood up against those vegan militias and have continued to look after us despite an enormously challenging two and a half years. Now that they are in a grave situation that is not of their making, I ask the Government to stand by them as they have stood by us.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) for securing this important debate.

Devon is home to 8% of agricultural holdings in England—a full 514,000 hectares, of which 92,000 are in my constituency, which boasts 1,442 agricultural holdings. Our Devon farms are relatively small, with an average size of just 60 hectares, compared with an English average of 85, and that magnifies some of the challenges that they currently face. My local NFU details that, as small businesses and consumers, farmers are grappling with spiralling costs in both their businesses and households. Agricultural inflation is running higher than consumer inflation. DEFRA figures show that it is at 28.4% for all inputs in the 12 months to April 2022.

In north Devon, most farm businesses involve livestock of some sort or another. The welfare of those livestock is always a primary concern. Farmers are grappling with how to afford feed and bedding for the coming winter. Nearly all farmhouses are off the gas grid and rely on heating oil in the main, which has had massive spikes and is not protected by the price cap of the electricity market. Some farmhouses are listed buildings, so it is difficult to make them energy efficient. Farmers, like others in rural areas, rely on motor vehicles to get to shops, schools and other facilities. The massive increase in fuel costs has a higher impact on those who live in rural areas.

Although I do not think that the solution is to increase rural fuel duty relief—a very specific tax relief that applies only to Lynton and Lynmouth in my rural constituency, as it relates to the distance from the refinery —we need to look for affordable and green solutions to tackle our reliance on the fossil-fuel powered vehicles in more rural parts of the country. It is not right that one set of consumers should pay less for their fuel, as it distorts the market and results in people driving to fill up more than they need to. We need to ensure that the existing fuel duty cut reaches the pump—the Competition and Markets Authority is already investigating the matter—because doing nothing is not a solution.

I would prefer a further fuel duty cut, but until we are confident that it will reach consumers, we must recognise that it may not deliver what we wish. We urgently need better charging infrastructure to enable more of us to switch to electric vehicles, and to look at other creative ways of reducing the cost of transport. In my North Devon constituency, buses are few and far between, and are clearly of no help at all for the transport of livestock or crops.

I recognise that half the basic farm payment has been brought forward, but farmers need more. It is just a matter of cashflow management. For farmers, the uncertainty brought about by much change—new schemes coming onstream, no security of revenue streams, and such surging costs—makes leaving fields fallow preferable. At a time of food insecurity, we need to ensure that every piece of fertile land is used for sustainable food production. That is why I am so exasperated to find that a major national landowner has evicted an organic dairy farmer in my constituency to rewild the land. I know that we need biodiversity, and I support it, but it should not come at the expense of food production. We need sustainable farming, and I urge the Minister to fix rapidly those unintended consequences of DEFRA policy to prevent further evictions and ensure that our productive and fertile land is used appropriately.

[Alicia Kearns]

I thank my hon. Friend for her point about protecting good-quality agricultural land to feed our nation. It is absolutely wrong that we have so many solar national infrastructure projects going through the Government, but no national oversight of where they are all happening. Masses of our land will end up covered in solar plants, reducing our agricultural capabilities, not least in Rutland, England’s smallest county, where there is a proposal to cover good-quality agricultural land with a 2,100-acre solar plant—it will be built with Uyghur blood and slave labour, although that is another debate. Does she agree that there should be a national strategy on solar plants?

--- Later in debate ---

[Alicia Kearns]

Thank you for your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I thank all those who have spoken with such unity. I particularly thank the Minister for her comments about land-based colleges—Melton Brooksby is one such exceptional establishment—and her commitments to the land use strategy and to continue conversations on labour schemes, gas fertiliser indexes and flexible loans.

This may be my last Westminster Hall debate with the Minister in her place, because she may be the Secretary of State by September—who knows?—or anything else. I thank her for her constancy, for her meaningful and heartfelt support for farmers across our country, for how hard she works, and for genuinely knowing her brief and fighting for it. I thank her on behalf of us all.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered support for farmers with the cost of living.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Thursday 28th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis]

I would be delighted to meet the hon. Gentleman, as I have many times to discuss the important issue of food poverty. I take the opportunity to commend him for his work with Fans Supporting Foodbanks, which is a great initiative. I thank all those involved.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

When people think of great British cheese, they think of Stilton, which was invented in my constituency. In the national food strategy, there are concerns that we will be forced to change that amazing national recipe to reduce the salt content. Will the Minister meet me to discuss that vital issue and my campaign to open a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs office in the rural capital of food, Melton Mowbray?

[Victoria Prentis]

I believe I am meeting my hon. Friend to discuss stilton and other important cheeses this afternoon.

Places for Growth: DEFRA Office (Melton)

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Monday 19th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con) [V]]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Nowhere in the country could offer a better home to DEFRA than Melton Mowbray. I could finish my speech there, but I suspect the Minister would like me to make my case in a little more detail. My debate this evening is a straightforward one. I am proud that our Government are levelling up our country, but rural areas need levelling up too, and if the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will not take up a rural home, then I ask the Minister: who will?

To make my case, I would like to start by inviting you, Mr Speaker, to learn more about the wonderful town of Melton Mowbray. We are located in the very heart of our country. Our market town is surrounded by the Vale of Belvoir and the welcoming villages of Melton. When one thinks of England’s green and pleasant lands, one must surely be thinking of our wonderful area—not perhaps Lancashire, as you may prefer. Our history is long and fascinating, and I will share some of the stories of our town with you today, because they make the case that not only is the food of our nation in our blood, but we are no ordinary market town.

Our livestock market, of which I will speak much today, is mentioned in the Domesday book dating back to 1085. A millennium on, and throughout the week farmers come from as far as Cornwall and Scotland to do trade at Melton Mowbray market. Visitors enjoying great hospitality in Melton is nothing new, because since the middle ages it is Melton where royalty have come to play and to relax. Indeed, in the last 850 years, 16 kings and two queens have visited Melton.

Even the most infamous of kings has a link to our town, for in 1540, as part of his annulment agreement with Anne of Cleves, King Henry VIII gave his former wife a stunning house in the centre of our town, which had previously been owned by Thomas Cromwell and the Church before that. Mr Speaker, that house is now a phenomenal pub, and you and the Minister would be very welcome to come and enjoy phenomenal food and drink there one day.

There is no question but that we are famous for two things in particular—the one and only Melton Mowbray pork pie and Stilton cheese, which was invented in Little Dalby and Wymondham villages in Melton borough in 1710. Until recently, I did not know that we can lay claim to perhaps the most English of all past times—that great thing, afternoon tea. In 1842, the 7th Duchess of Bedford was staying with the Duke and Duchess of Rutland at Belvoir castle and, bored between lunch and dinner, she ordered tea, sandwiches, buns and cakes at 5 o’clock. When she returned to London from her visit, she took the custom with her, and so afternoon tea was born.

Keeping on the aristocratic theme, Melton Mowbray is also where the phrase “paint the town red” originates. In 1837, an eccentric aristocrat by the name of Henry de la Poer Beresford turned up at the tollgate at Thorpe End and, in his state of extreme inebriation, refused to pay the toll to enter the town. Having been challenged over his refusal, he came across a pot of red paint and proceeded to paint the toll keeper, a local constable and a good deal of the town red.

As those wonderful stories show, the two constants in Melton Mowbray’s history are our agricultural and culinary way of life and the extraordinary people who make up our town and borough. Melton Mowbray is a uniquely wonderful, welcoming and generous place, alive with British history, traditions and values and a people proud to feed our country. I will speak much of our farming heritage this evening, but Meltonians are honest and fair people, full of common sense, deeply passionate about our communities and caring for our neighbours.

I secured this debate because on my election I promised to give the people of Melton peace of mind; to create opportunity for us and give our town every chance to succeed; and to deliver a local economy that raises the standards of living for everybody—a fair economy that guarantees that everyone matters and no one is left behind. Like much of the east midlands, Melton Mowbray has been left behind. Through this debate and by working with the Government, I hope to change that, so I shall make the case that DEFRA should open an office in Melton Mowbray.

Melton deserves the chance to succeed. Our town has been identified by the Government as a town ready for levelling-up and investment, and we are a tier 2 priority area in the levelling-up fund. Even though we have a strong manufacturing base, our average wages are lower than the national average and not in line with house prices. We are the key centre for regeneration and growth identified in the whole of Leicester and Leicestershire, yet too often we lose out.

The east midlands has the lowest levels of public investment of any region in the United Kingdom. Because of the way the local government funding formula is calculated, both Leicestershire and Rutland suffer from under-investment as rural areas, despite the fact that it costs so much more to deliver services in rural areas. For example, if Leicestershire County Council was funded at the same level as Surrey, it would have an additional £104 million to support the people of Leicestershire. The east midlands also hosts only 5% of the civil service, which is the lowest level in the country apart from Northern Ireland, and only 1% of those civil servants are at the senior civil service level, which is again the lowest level outside Northern Ireland.

Too often, policy is detached from our communities and from the industries and people for whom our civil service regulates and makes policy. It is clear that the east midlands does not have a loud enough voice in policy making, and it is against that backdrop that I am pushing for a DEFRA office in the Borough of Melton. On every score, this project is right for the places for growth programme, right for the country and—it goes without saying—right for the east midlands and for Melton.

I argue that DEFRA needs Melton Mowbray, too, because we need to make rural policy in our agricultural heartlands, not just on Marsham Street, surrounded by the white buildings of Westminster. We should not be reliant on field visits by policy officials to see our incredible countryside and meet farmers and environmentalists. Surely we want DEFRA officials to work from offices where they can see from their window a thriving breeding-sheep auction, as they reflect on sheep welfare, biodiversity or environmental management; where they can pick up lunch from the farmers’ market or town food stalls and meet workers from food factories in local cafes and shops; and where green fields abound.

I have heard it said that two cities are in contention for DEFRA’s office outside London. I urge the Minister to consider the message that it sends when even our rural policy is set from cities. DEFRA plays a huge role in setting agricultural and food policy for the entire UK, so there is surely nowhere better to call home than the rural capital of food. This Government believe that putting policy makers closer to the experience of farmers, food makers and land stewards will create a more joined-up farm-to-fork environment for policy development and its real-world impact. I agree, so let me set out our offer.

We are an agricultural powerhouse and major food-production economy. Our countryside in Rutland and Melton alone has more than 100 farms of every type—arable, sheep, pig, poultry, beef and even bison. Nearby Rutland is a major centre for bird life and hosts the annual Glastonbury of bird-life festivals. Melton is home to one of the oldest and largest town-centre livestock markets in the country, with everything from alpacas to sheep to cows to peacocks to horses on sale, depending on the market that day. We also host the national traditional and native breeds show.

In Melton, the rate of employment in food and drink-related manufacturing is significantly higher than the national average, with around 3,000 people employed in the sector in 2017. Two thirds of our manufacturing is food related, and Melton was one of the first food enterprise zones in the UK. The Minister will forgive me for tempting to strike awe with my exhaustive list, but here are some of the household brands and outstanding food producers to which Melton is home. Samworth Brothers owns and produces Ginsters pasties, Soreen, Melton Mowbray pork pies; owns the West Cornwall Pasty Company; and is one of the largest sandwich providers for supermarkets in the UK. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Mars Petcare owns Pedigree, Whiskas and Royal Canin, and its Waltham Petcare Science Institute is the UK’s leading scientific authority on pet nutrition. Belvoir Fruit Farms makes the best elderflower pressé in the world and would be happy to stock Parliament at any time. The famous Long Clawson dairy makes outstanding cheeses, such as Stilton, Rutland Red and many more, and the Arla factory makes even more standout cheeses. The brewery Round Corner Brewing has won more global gold medals for its beer than any other brewery in the world over the last three years, including “best lager” in 2019—that might pique your attention, Mr Speaker.

The incredible Brentingby Gin distillery makes outstanding award-winning gins. It stepped up during the pandemic, and rolled out sanitiser for free to care homes across Melton. We have Nice Pies and Brockleby’s pies, and the first-class Cidentro cider house. We are even the leading producers of paneer cheese, and of tofu for the Japanese restaurant market. Food is in our blood, and food heritage is who we are. Melton is the Rural Capital of Food, and our town hosts the national pie awards, the largest cheese fair in England—it concluded this week—a chocolate festival, and the East Midlands food festival. Civil servants would never find themselves short of the highest quality food celebrations.

Our offer extends beyond our existing farming economy. If DEFRA were to open an office in Melton, we could offer educational opportunities to support civil servants. Brooksby Melton College in Melton is an exceptional specialist land-based college, with an agritech centre, commercial farm, rural catering centre and even a quarry. It is an outstanding college. Nearby Loughborough University offers agriculture and related sciences courses for policy officials to undertake. Nottingham University is not that far away, with Sutton Bonington campus for veterinary sciences, one of the leading centres for veterinary medicine in the UK.

Not only does Melton Mowbray have a vibrant food manufacturing and agricultural economy and educational offer, we also have the Vale of Belvoir, which was mentioned in the landscapes review as a potential area of outstanding natural beauty. We are a leading light for diversification of farming and environmental stewardship. We have one of the largest abattoirs in the country, and we have an area rich in environmental leadership. Indeed, it is little known that it was in my constituency that Sir David Attenborough developed his love of fossils. There is much to be explored, and we cover many of DEFRA’s policy areas.

But it is not just in policy terms where Melton excels. Let me get down to brass tacks, and the practicalities of our offer. We offer an unbeatable location. Melton lies in the centre of the country, and meets the connectivity, space and logistical needs that the Government have outlined to me. In particular I thank the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Agnew, and the Environment Secretary for the wise words of encouragement they have given me on this subject.

By car, Melton is within two and half hours of 80% of the country. It is just off the A1, with easy access to the M1. It is 20 minutes to Loughborough, 25 minutes to Leicester, 40 minutes to Nottingham, and 40 minutes to Peterborough. By train, London is only an hour and a half away. People can get to Birmingham in an hour and Cambridge in an hour and a half. East Midlands airport is 30 minutes away, as well as Stansted and Birmingham airports. People can go anywhere they need to get to.

Melton offers an ideal place to work for people across six different counties. I find it hard to believe that anywhere else in the country could offer employment to people from that many counties: Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire are all within striking distance. Some would even include Derbyshire, if I can extend to seven counties. This is an opportunity to create rural jobs for rural people.

There are many hundreds of rural villages within a 30-minute drive of Melton Mowbray across Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Lincolnshire. Indeed, I represent almost 160 villages in Rutland and Melton alone, all of which are looking for high-quality rural jobs close to home. There is a semicircle of nearby cities that already host civil service offices. It is the perfect opportunity for civil servants to go between different Departments and gain skills.

We are ideally located, and we even have office space ready to be occupied. Both Melton Borough Council and Pera Business Park could house between 500 and 2,500 civil servants almost immediately. Pera has 129,000 square feet already ready, and it would design the office space around the needs of the civil service. Both those sites are in the centre of our town. They overlook the livestock market, town market and train station.

It is also important that the home of DEFRA’s new office offers an outstanding quality of life to civil servants and policy makers. In 2020 The Sunday Times announced that Melton Mowbray was one of the best places to live in the whole of the UK, so Members will forgive me if I take up the challenge of listing as many things as I can, as quickly as I can. In Melton, we have: hundreds of outstanding pubs, including the Anne of Cleves, the Stag and Hounds in Burrough on the Hill and, nearby in Rutland, the Olive Branch in Clipsham, which is this year’s best pub in the entire country; Twinlakes, a wonderful children’s theme park that my son adores; excellent state and independent schools; a thriving local market and amazing independent shops such as Luna Rayn; vintage classic car nights on Fridays; the award-winning Eye Kettleby Lakes; Ragdale Hall, one of the best spas in the country and one that I will make it to at some point; an iron age hill fort in Burrough on the hill; Belvoir castle, where “The Crown” is filmed, which has an incredible diary of events from fireworks competitions to re-enactments of the civil war and a fabulous shopping and dining offer at the engine rooms; 140 acres of lakes, trails and children’s play areas right in the centre of Melton country park; the stand-out Ferneley’s farm ice cream, which people travel miles to enjoy; Vine Farm Dairy’s milk shed, which is secretly stocked with amazing cakes that I am sure have no calories in them at all; phenomenal garden centres such as Gates—we all know the British people love a garden centre—Melton theatre, with panto when it reopens; and fantastic sports facilities for all the family, from flying across the sky to the two new 3G football pitches that are being built. The pork pie army at Melton Town football club are always looking for more fans, and I am confident that they would welcome civil servants heartily. Of course, we also have nearby Rutland offering incredible outdoor sports on the famous Rutland water.

Those are just some of the things that saw Melton voted the happiest place to live in Leicestershire, with life satisfaction levels at an all-time high. There are so many more amazing businesses and people that I wish I could mention. Melton would be delighted and well-equipped to keep the DEFRA team filled and fuelled with cheese, pork pies, beer, gin and outstanding food and drink alongside the most beautiful countryside, an outstanding quality of life and some of the warmest people in our country.

When I proposed DEFRA’s potential move to Melton, I could never have expected the extraordinary outpouring of support from every corner of the community. Institutions and people from every walk of life, from our borough council to farmers, businesses and local religious leaders, have all stepped forward and said, “Yes, this is the opportunity for Melton. This is the right one. We would not ask for any other Department to come to Melton. DEFRA is in our blood. It is the right thing to come to us.”

I pay tribute too to all the MPs who would have come to the Chamber this evening, had I been able to join you in person, Mr Speaker—unfortunately, I was pinged by that pesky app. I thank in particular my hon. Friends the Members for Loughborough (Jane Hunt), for Rushcliffe (Ruth Edwards), for Bosworth (Dr Evans), for Charnwood (Edward Argar) and for Grantham and Stamford (Gareth Davies), who have all stood behind the proposal and agree that it would bring jobs for their residents. They recognise that the east midlands would benefit from DEFRA coming to Melton. They want those jobs, they know it makes sense, and they know it would offer opportunities for their areas, too.

For too long, Departments have been detached from those they seek to represent, support and regulate. That is what our Government have set out to change. By opening an office in Melton, DEFRA would have the chance to be closer than ever before to every aspect of its work—except perhaps fishing. The Secretary of State may make a pitch to open an office down in Cornwall—or in Scotland—and I would fully accept that alongside Melton Mowbray being the core hub outside London. Policy makers could work in the most beautiful part of the country in a wonderful town, with the Vale of Belvoir and Rutland on their doorstep and with the full backing of the local community.

If we are trying to connect parts of the country and Government in ways that augment the Government’s ability to develop policy while boosting local economic growth, there is simply nowhere better for DEFRA to find a new home than Melton borough. The people of Melton need these jobs. They need policy roles. We are experts in agriculture, but we do not have such policy roles in our community. We have people who want to find senior roles, but those roles do not exist. This move could provide them.

The people of Melton are welcoming and generous, and I know that they are waiting with open arms to offer a new home for the hardworking members of our civil service. They are waiting to do their part in this programme of national renewal. They are waiting to offer DEFRA a new home. They are waiting to take up the employment opportunities that it would bring. They are waiting for this to transform our town, and they are waiting to see rural policy made from the rural heart of our nation. They are waiting for the Government to say yes. I very much hope that the Minister will visit—and that you will visit, Mr Speaker—to see the amazing potential that our wonderful town holds and the home that it could offer to the Department and employees alike.

The people of Melton are offering an open hand. I hope that the Government will step forward and, in taking their hand, revolutionise rural policy making in our country and prove that they will level up not just cities but our rural communities as well. That starts with Melton Mowbray.

[Mr Speaker]

That was a very passionate speech, and how could I not take up the offer to visit? I just say that Handley’s, Bowen’s and Hall’s pies in Chorley might give you a little run for your money. I certainly know that Cuckoo gin and Rivington beers will be there as well. But I want to hear from the Minister; I think the case has been very well put.

Agriculture Bill (Eleventh sitting)

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee Debate: 11th sitting: House of Commons
Thursday 5th March 2020 Public Bill Committees

[Daniel Zeichner]

It is a pleasure to continue serving under your chairmanship, Sir David. I am afraid that we will not be rattling on at quite the pace you have managed so far.

Hon. Members on both sides of the Committee will be delighted that today we are going to unleash, as the Prime Minister would say, the full talents of the shadow Front-Bench team and Labour Back-Bench Members. Again, I encourage the Government to do the same. Yesterday morning, while eating my porridge, I enjoyed a thoughtful contribution on the “Today” programme—territory currently uninhabited by Ministers of course—from the hon. Member for Devizes. It is an odd world where Back-Bench Members are free to speak on national media but are constrained on detailed scrutiny. The Government love power but may be less keen on responsibility.

A document relevant to our discussion has once again been released in the middle of a morning. This time, it is a 109-page document on bovine TB. Although it is another favourite document of mine, hon. Members will be grateful that I will not subject it to rigorous scrutiny, but one of my hon. Friends will talk to it this afternoon.

Let me get to the core business. Throughout the Committee, we have said that it is crucial that, in any future trade deals, imported agricultural goods meet our animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards to protect our consumers and prevent our farmers being undercut by lower-standard imports. The Bill improves the standards that we set ourselves by reducing environmental impacts and incentivising public goods, such as high welfare standards. If we do not have coherency between our agricultural and trade policies, however, the Government might as well make the entire Bill null and void.

Hon. Members will have noticed in the oral evidence sessions that I asked almost every witness the same question. Although they put it in different ways, they all gave similar answers and agreed that it is the key issue. The Government have said that they are committed not to allow future trade deals to weaken our food standards—I anticipate the Minister’s response—but the problem is that we have yet to find anyone who believes that. I suspect the same goes for most Government Members. There is a simple solution, which we will say again and again: put it in the Bill. I am tempted to follow the Prime Minister’s lead and get Opposition Members to chant, but I think that is a bit naff, so we will not do that. We will try to do better.

We are sceptical because the actions of the Government and the Prime Minister seem to point in a different direction. On Sunday, the Secretary of State had the opportunity, but again refused to rule out chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef being imported from the US under a new deal.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

Does the hon. Gentleman not recognise that we have put it into law that we cannot import chlorinated chicken? We would require primary legislation for that to be removed once we have left the EU, so it is not up for discussion. It is in the legislation. All hon. Members will have a chance to vote on that.

The hon. Gentleman says that the Government are giving all the signs of having no interest in protecting standards, but did he not note Liz Truss’ announcement of our red lines, which are standards? That has reassured my farmers locally, who are very happy for all amendments on trade standards to go into a trade Bill, not the Agriculture Bill.

[Daniel Zeichner]

I am delighted that we are getting some rumbustious debate. I will come to the point later of the exact legal position on the current status, which I suspect is not nearly so clear. I am not convinced that many are as reassured by the Secretary of State for International Trade’s document, which I have started reading, as the hon. Lady has, but I am glad that some of her constituents are satisfied, because many are not.

We know that the Prime Minister will not prioritise alignment with EU standards in the upcoming EU trade deal. When asked last month about lower-standard American products coming to the UK, he described such fears as “hysterical” and “mumbo-jumbo”. Given his past record, as I take that as, “Yes, we should be very worried indeed.”

If the Minister is in any doubt about the need to include a safeguard for our production standards in the Bill, I point to the comments made by a Government adviser on food strategy at the weekend, which reveal that the iconoclasts running the show have little regard for protecting our farmers and the domestic production of food. The Mail on Sunday article was a classic of its type, including comments such as

“Britain doesn’t need famers,”

according to the adviser, and

“the food sector is not ‘critically important’ to the economy.”

It concluded with the memorable message from the Mail on Sunday to the Government:

“Britain doesn’t need farms? Find another box to think outside!”

[Alicia Kearns]

Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that that email was sent in a personal capacity by an adviser? It is MPs and Ministers who make legislation, not advisers—I am pretty sure about that. [Interruption.] I do not know who that individual adviser is, so clearly he is not advising my views. The Secretary of State for International Trade, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Prime Minister have all made it clear that the points the adviser makes are not Government policy. We can either listen to nonsensical personal emails or pay attention to what those on the Front Bench are saying. I think they have been clear that the Mail on Sunday story was complete nonsense. Does the hon. Gentleman agree?

[The Chair]

Order. I remind hon. Members that when they refer to other hon. Members they need to use their constituency titles.

Agriculture Bill (Twelfth sitting)

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee Debate: 12th sitting: House of Commons
Thursday 5th March 2020 Public Bill Committees

[Thangam Debbonaire (Bristol West) (Lab)]

I rise to say on behalf of the shadow European affairs team—in the spirit of transitioning from one state of affairs to another—that Labour Front-Benchers have a lot of sympathy with what the hon. Member for Edinburgh North and Leith and the SNP are trying to do. Of course, we want to protect GIs and people’s ability to trade using them, which is a strength. We particularly want to make sure that, given that—I have to reiterate this—the prediction that moving to World Trade Organisation trading rules will be the worst-case scenario, we do everything we can to protect our specialist food producers. However, the Labour party cannot support the new clause as worded because of subsection (2), which would give Scottish Ministers a veto. I will not go over old ground, but it is consistent with Labour policy that we could not support it because of that part, but we support the spirit of what the hon. Lady is trying to achieve.

I urge the Minister to work with all parties and producers across the whole United Kingdom so that we can protect our GI products. They are dear to us and to our sense of who we are, and as we leave the European Union, they may matter even more. There are Members across the Committee who feel very strongly about GIs in their own constituencies.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

Work is ongoing on this exact issue. I encourage Labour Members to join the all-party parliamentary group on geographically protected foods, at which we will discuss this, so that we can hold the Minister to account.

[Thangam Debbonaire]

What a wonderful invitation. I was mentally running through Government Committee members and trying to think of a geographical indicator in the constituency of each one, and I think I did pretty well, actually. Probably all of us have a product in our constituencies whose GI status we want to protect, so the hon. Lady’s offer is useful.

In that spirit, as I said, we support the sentiment behind the new clause. We cannot support subsection (2), but in every other way we support making this law, because we need to do everything we can to protect our GIs. I am sorry if that disappoints the hon. Member for Edinburgh North and Leith, but that is where we are at the moment.