Farming Families
Earl of Shrewsbury Excerpts(1 month ago)
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The Earl of Shrewsbury (Con)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, on securing this important debate and making such a powerful speech. I declare my interest as a member of the National Farmers’ Union. In addition, my eldest son is a land agent and my youngest son is a poultry farmer.
It is vital that young people are encouraged into the farming industry. They are the seed corn of the future for farming. Becoming a tenant farmer is often the first step into the industry for a young hopeful. In the past, council-owned smallholdings have played a significant role in this process, but over the years the number of these holdings has diminished as councils have needed to draw in their horns and realise capital assets. Many hopefuls rely on becoming tenants of private landlords. Indeed, tenant farmers look after over one-third of England’s farmland and are thus vital to food production.
Now, thanks to this Budget, they will face additional obstacles placed in their path. In this Budget, delinked farm payments have been capped from next year at £8,000, which will inevitably make it more difficult for tenants to pay their rent. The changes to employers’ national insurance contributions will make employing a farm worker more expensive. In addition, the announced changes to APR and BPR may well force landlords to take tenanted land back in hand and sell it to pay their IHT liability.
The incentive for landlords to invest in and improve their tenanted farm will be severely compromised. Who in their right mind would wish to enhance the value of their property and thus risk a higher tax bill? The banks will be far less inclined to lend to farmers and landlords—especially to tenant farmers.
Both the Government and, in particular, the Secretary of State Steve Reed—I listened to his speech to the CLA conference earlier today—have demonstrated that they are unsupportive of, and uninterested in, either the agricultural industry or the wider rural community. Throughout the run-up to the general election, and ever since, the Government have trumpeted that they are fully supportive of, and wish to protect—in their words—“working people”. I ask the Minister: in their definition of “working people”, do they include tenant farmers and owner-occupier farmers, some of the hardest-working people in the land? If not, why not?
The Government should take a deep breath and rethink these Budget decisions. They have lost the trust of the rural community.
Wild Atlantic Salmon
Earl of Shrewsbury Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
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The Earl of Shrewsbury (Con)
My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the Salmon and Trout Association and the GWCT, and I am in my 50th year of fishing on the River Deveron.
In around 1580, salmon was so prolific on English rivers that apprentices’ indentures on my family’s estate specified that they should be fed salmon on only five days a week. Where on earth have we got to from there?
I shall make just a couple of points. First, the demise of the sand-eel population is nothing short of drastic and affects both salmon and sea trout and a wide range of seabirds, in particular the puffin. What is being done and what is the Government’s policy to protect sand-eel populations? Will they do everything they can to enhance sand-eel stocks and not use them as a bargaining chip in their undoubted efforts to curry favour with the EU?
Secondly, the issue of gill nets in estuaries is of major importance. The buying out of commercial netting has had a considerable beneficial effect on a number of rivers. Salmon and sea trout often swim at a lower depth than the three metres mentioned with regard to gill nets. This should be taken into account when dealing with gill nets.
What is the Government’s policy towards the control of seals, which predate heavily on salmon and sea trout in both coastal waters and estuaries?
Finally—this is the quickest speech I have ever made in my life—is the Minister aware of the excellent research carried out over the past 50 years on the River Frome by the GWCT?