Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Daniel Zeichner and Ann Davies(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)
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.
Budget: Implications for Farming Communities
Debate between Daniel Zeichner and Ann Davies(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Daniel Zeichner
I also wish my fellow East Anglian MP, the right hon. Lady, good luck in the coming hours. The reason we can look forward to a successful and stable future for farmers across the east of England and the rest of the country is that we have absolutely committed to stability. The reason things have had to be different is that we found—I found this in my Department, just as fellow Ministers found it in their Departments—that the situation was far worse than we had been led to believe. We had to tackle that problem.
Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)
Diolch, Mr Llefarydd. As a tenant dairy farmer myself and chair of the Farmers’ Union of Wales Carmarthenshire, I perhaps understand this issue more than anybody else in the Chamber. The Government are trying to portray farming as an industry of super-wealthy landowners and that is simply not the case in Wales, let me tell them. Welsh upland farmers in mountainous and hilly areas have an average annual income of £18,600—yes, you heard correctly: £18,600. That is far below the national living wage for hours that are way beyond the average 40-hour week. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of the changes to APR in Wales, where wages for farmers are so low?
Daniel Zeichner
The hon. Lady is absolutely right that farming is very tough right across the country and very difficult in Wales. It is a devolved issue, so I will not comment on specific schemes in Wales, but I point her back to the Treasury figures that show the number of people who made claims for APR. It is relatively few, and I would say it is probably relatively few in Wales.