Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold discussions with the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers on protests outside their members' premises.

Defra engages regularly with stakeholders across the food and farming sector, including representative bodies, on matters within the Department’s remit.

Issues relating to protests and public order, including protests taking place outside commercial premises, are matters for the police and fall within the responsibility of the Home Office. The policing of protests is an operational matter for local police forces, who are responsible for balancing the right to peaceful protest with the rights and safety of others.