Rural Landlords and Land Letting: Reform

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Lord and I congratulate my noble friend on securing this debate. I pay tribute to all farmers, who have worked tirelessly through this pandemic to put food on our plates in extreme weathers, in England and Wales especially, and I pay regard to the fact that tenant farmers account for 30% of those who farm in England and Wales and nearer 48% in North Yorkshire.

My main concern reflects that of other noble Lords: tenants who occupy the land under farm business tenancies. They account for up to half the tenanted sector of agriculture in England and Wales, and the tenancies are characterised by short-term lets and restrictive clauses. There is unfinished business from the Agriculture Act 2020 and I seek an assurance from the Minister today that these tenants, particularly FBT holders, will not be excluded from new government schemes replacing the CAP or indeed from any private arrangements for the better environmental management of the land. Will my noble friend therefore confirm that the beneficiaries of the new schemes will be the economic operators, those taking the entrepreneurial decisions and the tenant who actively farms, not the landlord, as that would be singularly inappropriate if they are not actively managing and farming the land?