Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Zeichner Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the autumn Budget 2024 on farming communities.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

The Labour Government have committed £5 billion to the agricultural budget over the next two years—the biggest budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in our history. It is good for British farming, it is good for the country, and it should be welcomed by the Opposition.

[John Lamont]

This week, the president of the National Farmers Union of Scotland, Martin Kennedy, said:

“The new UK Government’s first budget…hammered hard-working family farms and crofts with crippling tax bills”.

The Minister has accused the Conservatives of scare- mongering about Labour’s family farm tax. Is the National Farmers Union of Scotland also scaremongering?

[Daniel Zeichner]

I talk regularly to the National Farmers Union of Scotland. I respect it fully, but I genuinely say, as I have said on many occasions, that we need to look closely at the figures and look at the detail. We will find that the vast majority of farmers in this country will be fine.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Daniel Zeichner]

We seem to be discussing this endlessly. The figures on agricultural property relief are absolutely clear. I have kept asking people to look at the detail, because what they will find—listen to the tax experts and the people who have actually looked at the policy in detail—is that fewer than 500 farms will be affected. That is the reassuring message that the Conservatives should be conveying to British farmers.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

Britain’s farmers, who feed us and care for our environment, deserve better than the betrayal they received under the last Conservative Government, and better than the attacks in this Government’s recent Budget. In Cumbria alone some 1,400 family farmers, many of whom live on less than the minimum wage, will be hit by this tax, but the more immediate threat to farming is the Government’s rash decision to cut the basic payment by 76% next year. That will hit livestock farmers, upland farmers and dairy farmers, and destabilise the whole industry. Will the Minister think again?

[Daniel Zeichner]

The changes we have made this year are the biggest boost to sustainable farming that this country has seen—that is the agricultural transition. The Liberal Democrats have always been flaky on this issue, and they have never been able to make up their minds what they think about it. We are determined to tackle the extreme climate crisis globally; they seem to think it is not happening.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

2. What steps he plans to take to help tackle fly-tipping.

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[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

3. What steps he is taking to improve food security.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

The hon. Lady will know that there are many facets to food security, but the £5 billion budget settlement for the next two years sends an important message to food producers about the stability and continuity they can look forward to. Our work on supply chain fairness will add to that, and we will be making more announcements in the coming weeks and months.

[Ann Davies]

Today, the Chancellor is hailing the benefits of free trade in a plea to Donald Trump. However, any future trade deal with the United States will enable cheap food, such as hormone-treated beef, to flood our markets, which would be devastating for farmers and food security. Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to rule out any trade deal that undermines our British farmers?

[Daniel Zeichner]

We have always been very clear that we will do nothing in trade deals that would undermine this country’s important standards.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dr Neil Hudson (Epping Forest) (Con)]

Food security is national security, and underpinning it are farmers and farmland. Labour’s ill-judged and heartless family farm tax will put all of that in jeopardy: family farms lost; tenant farmers unable to continue farming; communities hollowed out; rural mental health damaged; and precious food-producing land lost to developers or investors. No farms, no food. No farmers, no food. Will the Government please now admit that they have got this catastrophically wrong? Will they do the right thing by reversing this farm tax to protect our country’s food security?

[Daniel Zeichner]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. Let me say once again that it is important to treat this subject carefully. We must look at the facts and listen to people who know about it. I was asked earlier by someone else whether this measure was wrong, but we should look at what Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and other tax experts have said. There are many ways in which this can be managed, and I encourage the hon. Gentleman to join me in reassuring British farmers about their future.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

4. What progress the floods resilience taskforce has made on protecting at-risk communities from flooding.

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[Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

6. What recent discussions he has had with the National Farmers Union on the adequacy of Government support for farmers.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

As the hon. Gentleman would expect, I have regular meetings with all the key stakeholders, and I speak to the National Farmers Union on a regular basis.

[Dr Mullan]

My local NFU representative, Gillian van der Meer, makes clear her concerns and those of many other local farmers about the impact of Labour’s family farm tax. I find it extraordinary that the Minister seems to think that, even if we accept his figures, it is okay that hundreds of farms will be affected. I appreciate that a U-turn can be difficult in the Westminster bubble, but I find the public are much more understanding and would welcome the Government realising that they have got this wrong. Does he agree that they have got this policy wrong and that it is time for a rethink?

[Daniel Zeichner]

What I would say is that I have had more meetings with Tom Bradshaw over the past few weeks than I have had for a long, long time, for reasons that are entirely obvious. I was grateful to him for congratulating the Government on getting a very good financial settlement for farmers when he addressed the egg and poultry industry conference on Monday in Newport, Wales. I was grateful that he recognised that.

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

8. What steps he plans to take to support nature-friendly farming.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

I point the hon. Lady to the extraordinary transformation that is under way, with the huge amount of extra money going into the sustainable farm incentive and our environmental land management schemes this year. It is the biggest transformation on record.

[Ellie Chowns]

I recognise the very welcome shift towards nature-friendly farming, which offers environmental, social and economic benefits—not just nature protection, but good healthy food and good jobs—yet the farmer-led Nature Friendly Farming Network argues that the agriculture budget needs to be more than doubled to £6 billion a year. Will the Minister press his Treasury colleagues to put more money into nature-friendly farming to secure a sustainable future for UK farming?

[Daniel Zeichner]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her support for the transition that we are undertaking. In fact, I was speaking to Martin Lines from the Nature Friendly Farming Network only yesterday evening. He and many of his colleagues are delighted with the transition that we are making, but, as ever, the Greens’ grasp of economics is limited.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

9. What recent progress his Department has made on investigating crustacean die-offs along the north-east coast in 2021.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

An independent expert panel reviewed the 2021 crustacean die-off event and published its findings last year. It could not identify a clear single cause for the crustacean mortality. The Government are keeping the situation under review and a coastal health programme was recently established to improve coastal monitoring.

[Mr Brash]

The die-off on the north-east coast has devastated an industry that has served Hartlepool for generations. Fishermen, such as my constituent Stan Rennie, and their families want three things: support in the face of their livelihoods being decimated; a plan to repopulate and rebuild their industry; and, finally, answers to how this happened in the first place. Will the Minister meet me and fishermen from Hartlepool to discuss a way forward on this issue?

[Daniel Zeichner]

My hon. Friend is a passionate defender of his community. I extend my sympathy to all those who find themselves under pressure when these kind of events happen and I would be very happy to meet him to discuss the matter further.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

11. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that future international trade agreements support the farming sector.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

Supporting farmers is a priority of this Government. We have been clear that we will protect farmers from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals. We are also working to reset our relationship with our European friends to strengthen ties and tackle barriers, and helping boost trade to the EU through a UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary veterinary agreement.

[Bill Esterson]

Some farmers benefited from international trade agreements under the previous Government. Unfortunately, it was mostly Australian and New Zealand farmers, not British farmers, who benefited. Will my hon. Friend confirm that this Government will prioritise British farmers who want to export, not least those who want to export to the European Union, through a veterinary agreement with the EU?

[Daniel Zeichner]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that what happened to the British farming industry was one of the great betrayals of the previous Government. Those trade deals did no credit to our country, but we will take a different approach and develop a much more constructive relationship with our near neighbours. Therefore, the answer to my hon. Friend’s question is yes.

[Sir Roger Gale (Herne Bay and Sandwich) (Con)]

There will be small point in protecting farmers in international trade agreements if Government policy is undermining those same farmers domestically. How many thousands of farmers will it take to clog up Parliament Square next Tuesday before the Government realise that their inheritance tax policy is very deeply flawed?

[Daniel Zeichner]

Once again, I direct right the hon. Gentleman back to the figures from the Treasury, which show that the numbers affected are under 500. That is the answer to his question.

[Ms Polly Billington (East Thanet) (Lab)]

13. What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the independent commission on the water sector regulatory system strengthens regulation.

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[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

T2. The puffins and other native seabirds in my constituency on the Isle of May were very grateful for the ban on sand eel fishing and trawling, but that ban is now subject to legal challenge. Will the Secretary of State commit to fighting that legal challenge?

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)]

The hon. Lady raises an important question. That is a delicate issue because it has been raised by the European Union, but we are absolutely determined to maintain our position.

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

T5. I welcome the record allocation for agriculture in the Budget. However, the simple fact is that that agriculture budget is no good if it stays in the Whitehall coffers. Last year, there was a £300 million underspend in the agriculture budget, worth more than £1,400 on average for every single farm holding in the country. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to guarantee that every single penny of that budget gets to communities such as Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages?

[Daniel Zeichner]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is extraordinary, given all the sound and fury from the Opposition, that they did not even spend the money that was available. This Government will ensure that every penny we have gets to farmers, because we are on the side of British farmers, rather than whipping them up in the kind of irresponsible way that the Conservative party has been doing.

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

T3. Family farms across West Dorset fear closure as a result of the Government’s planned changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief, and I urge Ministers to rethink the policy. The Budget also included the announcement of a UK carbon border adjustment mechanism to be introduced on 1 January 2027. That will place a carbon price on goods imported to the UK, including fertiliser. A carbon tax on fertiliser will only increase the cost of production for farmers struggling to compete with cheap imports, and drive up costs for consumers. What assessment has been made of that?

[Daniel Zeichner]

The proposal for a carbon border adjustment mechanism was supported by the previous Government, and we have confirmed it. It is complicated in the way it will work, and it will not affect people before 2027-28. The Liberal Democrats have shown once again that when it comes to environmental issues, they cannot be trusted.

[Michael Payne (Gedling) (Lab)]

T7. Residents in Woodborough village have faced the devastation of flooding far too many times in recent years. Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State therefore work with me, Woodborough flood action group and Woodborough parish council to bring forward a much-needed flood alleviation scheme for that village?

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[Sir Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam) (Con)]

The Government have justified their inheritance tax changes for farmers on the basis that they are concerned about people gaining short-term tax advantage by buying agricultural land. May I therefore ask whether, instead of the sweeping changes that they made, the Government considered an approach that would limit the IHT exemption to those who could demonstrate that the family farm had been in family ownership for a certain number of years? If that approach was explored, why was it not pursued? If it was not explored, why not?

[Daniel Zeichner]

We have had a lot of debate about this issue, and I am perfectly happy to have discussions with hon. Members about the tax regime in general. One of the beneficial aspects of this policy may be to get the generational shift that farming in this country needs so much. There are many parts to this policy. It is a complicated policy, and in future we will have further discussions.

[Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) (Lab)]

On 2 and 3 November, a massive burst water main in my constituency left 8,000 homes without water for more than 12 hours. The response of the water company, South Staffs Water, was slow, ineffective and secretive. Will the Minister remind South Staffs Water, and all water companies, of their responsibilities to help residents and work with local stakeholders following an incident?