Queen’s Speech

Lord Curry of Kirkharle Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Curry of Kirkharle (CB) [V]]

My Lords, my interests are as recorded in the register. I would like to congratulate new Members on their excellent maiden speeches.

I shall comment on Her Majesty’s gracious address, as far as the Government’s policies on agriculture, the environment and rural issues are concerned. Let me state from the outset that I applaud their intention to introduce a Bill on animal welfare and look forward to the debate on it, and on the imminent Environment Bill. Both are of crucial importance and present an opportunity for this country to set new global standards. This is of particularly import in view of hosting COP 26 in November. As a country, we are proud of our commitment to high standards of animal welfare—it is one of our global claims. The intention to raise welfare standards for farm animals will, I am sure, be welcomed by the public, and elements of the Bill will also be supported by farmers provided that the trading field is level.

I am aware of the substantial work that has been done by Defra to design an enhanced animal welfare element of the ELM scheme. To reward farmers, willing to go beyond the norm and improve their facilities and standards, is a big step forward. However, if this is overlaid by further legislation that will apply to all farmers, significant additional costs will be incurred that are unlikely to be compensated for by government support through the ELM scheme.

I have a similar concern about the Environment Bill. We absolutely have to embrace the measures proposed in the Bill, to improve biodiversity and resource efficiency, the quality of air and water, to reduce waste and pollution, to limit abstraction, and so on. These are essential and worthy ambitions, but it is inevitable that these measures will lead to cost increases for farmers and land managers, and these could be substantial in some cases.

In addition to these two topics—animal welfare and the environment—we have the overarching challenge of climate change, as articulated by many Peers today and very convincingly, by the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, in this debate.

There are only two sources of income that farmers and land managers will have access to for ensuring that they successfully deliver on these ambitions: the public funding through ELMS and the rewards in the marketplace for the food that we produce. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the public goods that we can and need to deliver to achieve real success in meeting government objectives will soon drain the Treasury commitment within the current agricultural budget. No values have yet been determined for the various elements of the scheme, but the ambition and the list of desired outcomes continues to increase. Can the Minister inform us whether the Government are regularly reviewing the potential cost of funding ELMS as our ambitions increase, and whether the department is doing this in conjunction with the Treasury?

Moving to the marketplace and the potential for the market to reward farmers for the higher standards that they will be committed to deliver, this was raised as a matter of serious concern in debates on the Agriculture Bill and subsequently on the Trade Bill. The Government’s decision to establish the initial Trade and Agriculture Commission was very welcome, and the confirmation in the Trade Bill that this would be given a statutory role was finally agreed after much debate and negotiation. The TAC delivered its report as commissioned earlier this year, yet so far the Government have not responded to its recommendations. Can the Minister confirm when this response is expected? Also, when can we expect progress in establishing the new TAC on a statutory footing? The Trade Secretary is making very good progress in negotiating trade deals. These deals must be urgently scrutinised by the non-existent TAC to ensure that they do not undermine the high domestic standards that we aspire to on the environment, climate change and animal welfare.

I very much supported the Government’s post-Brexit promised land ambitions for our countryside. The vision is an exciting one, but to extend the Old Testament analogy, the country is likely to flow with substandard imported milk and honey, fruit, vegetables and meat if those are not subject to the same high standards. How counterproductive would it be if our investment in even higher standards led to a fall in domestic production and did not result in any net national benefit due to an increase in lower-quality imports? The delay in establishing the TAC is becoming a real concern.

Finally, I fully endorse comments made in this debate on concerns about planning policy and the importance of the levelling-up agenda regarding rural areas and how the Government intend to address this.