Small Abattoirs
Ben Lake Excerpts(9 months ago)
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Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke) on securing this very important debate. We have heard about the situation for abattoirs in general, and in Wales it is just as stark. The number of operational red meat abattoirs in Wales has dropped from some 60 in 1990 to just 17 last year.
As other Members have eloquently outlined, the importance of small abattoirs to our rural economies cannot be overstated. The hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton underlined how important they are as a cog in a vital supply chain for the rural economy. We should not forget that if we were to lose more of our small abattoirs, many of which face extinction, we would also see the demise of the surrounding agricultural industry. In areas such as Ceredigion Preseli, in which agriculture is a key pillar of the local economy, there would be an economic hit for the wider population, so it is urgent that we maintain the network of small abattoirs and hopefully expand it through Government support.
The hon. Member for Weald of Kent (Katie Lam) mentioned the disproportionate regulatory burdens that small abattoirs face. That complaint and that experience is echoed by some constituents of mine who run a very small abattoir near Tregaron, Cig Oen Caron. They provide an invaluable service to local famers. They not only provide private kill services of a kind that larger operators do not offer, which allow them to diversify their income and build their business, but ensure high animal welfare standards and cater to a variety of farming models. It has already been said that larger operators seldom offer multi-species or rare breed services. Small abattoirs fill that gap in the market. If we were to lose small abattoirs, a number of business models that are so important in all parts of the United Kingdom, including my own, will become unviable.
It is also important to note that if we lose more small abattoirs, the distance that farmers must travel to take their animals to slaughter will increase. Average journey times are already unacceptable, given the added stress, the animal welfare concerns and the carbon footprint.
In Wales, we need to ensure that the existing very small network of proud and, in many cases, family-run small abattoirs is supported. The Welsh Government have responsibility for infrastructure development, so I will not ask the Minister to help us in that regard, but the UK Government can help small abattoirs in Wales with the cost of regulation and the inspection regime undertaken by the Food Standards Agency. The owners of Cig Oen Caron have approached me in recent years to explain the pressure that that added cost places on their business. More recently, there has been an 18% increase to their costs, so the importance of retaining the small abattoir discount is pressing. I would welcome any reassurances that the Minister can offer, not only that the discount will be retained but that the Government will consider with an open mind expanding it for the smallest abattoirs in recognition of the fact that the general costs are increasing.
If we are to maintain a diverse, geographically sparse and accessible network of small abattoirs in this country, the Government need to support it. If they are serious about treating small abattoirs as a key piece of infrastructure—let us not forget that they are critical for our farming businesses and rural economies—Government support through grants to improve infrastructure and with regulatory burdens is well overdue. I, for one, would welcome it if the Government made moves in that direction.
Rural Affairs
Ben Lake Excerpts(1 year, 2 months ago)
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Steve Reed
They are from the Treasury and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Under the previous system, 40% of the value of agricultural property relief went to just 7% of claimants. That is not fair and it is not sustainable. Our reforms will put a stop to wealthy individuals buying up agricultural land to avoid inheritance tax and, in the process of doing that, pricing younger farmers out of buying land for themselves and for their families. As a Farmers Weekly correspondent pointed out,
“prices have been artificially inflated by non-agricultural buyers purchasing land for inheritance tax purposes”,
thereby making it hard for young farmers to set up a family farm. That is correct.
The reforms will protect family farms by closing the loopholes, but they will also help to provide funding for the public services on which families in rural and farming communities rely just as much as anyone else. When Opposition Members say that they would go back to the unfair old system, they also need to tell us which part of the new NHS investment they would cut to pay for it. Like everyone else, farmers and rural communities need a better NHS, affordable housing, good local schools and reliable public transport.
The last Government’s economic failure left Britain with a flatlining economy, broken public services and the worst decade for wage growth since the great depression of the 1930s. Poor public transport meant that people could not get to work, the GP or the hospital when they needed to. Home ownership was out of reach for too many in rural areas. Too few new homes were built, and even fewer that were genuinely affordable. Digital connectivity in rural areas lags behind connectivity in urban areas.
We have to kick-start the economy to build the public services that rural communities need, and to help with that we have secured the biggest budget for sustainable farming and nature in our country’s history. It will help to change farming practices so that we can clean up our rivers, lakes and seas, which the last Government left in such a filthy, polluted state.
Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)
The Secretary of State mentioned the new set-up for the funding of agriculture and fisheries across the UK. He may be aware of the concern expressed by the Farmers’ Union of Wales, which fears that processing the extra funds through the Barnett formula—as opposed to the previous arrangement, which was a ringfenced addition for the devolved Governments—might bring about a severe reduction in agricultural funding in Wales. Will the Secretary of State please give some reassurance that that is not the case?
Steve Reed
As I have said, the consequentials will work in the way in which they always work. Devolved Administrations have some discretion as to how they will spend the money that is made available to them, but of course I, along with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, am more than happy to engage with, for instance, the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to discuss those points.
The huge investment we have secured in the sustainable farming budget will also help us to move to a zero-waste economy, as we end the throwaway society and reuse materials rather than sending them to landfill.