Budget: Implications for Farming Communities

Mike Wood Excerpts
Monday 4th November 2024

(1 day, 20 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Daniel Zeichner Portrait Daniel Zeichner
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The right hon. Gentleman is very knowledgeable about these issues. I just gently ask him to look closely at the detail and the figures, which show that the numbers are low. I do not recognise his characterisation of the future.

Mike Wood Portrait Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)
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According to statistics published by DEFRA last Thursday, an average farm in England measures 88 hectares, which is roughly one hectare for every word that Labour had to say about farming in its last manifesto. What assessment has the Minister made of the typical value of a farm of that size—about 88 hectares?

Daniel Zeichner Portrait Daniel Zeichner
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I think the hon. Gentleman will know that the definition of a farm is actually rather complicated. That is what makes this quite a difficult debate, and I am not going to comment on individual farms, but the overall assessment—[Interruption.] Let me return to the point about the Treasury figures, which show that the number of claims likely to be affected by this change is relatively low.