Boris Johnson’s hopes of surviving as prime minister have been severely hampered by farmers and environmentalists condemning his government’s post-Brexit food strategy as a disaster for people in the countryside, less than two weeks away. key rural by-elections.
In an interview with the Observer, National Farmers Union President Minette Batters said the ambitious proposals to help farmers increase food production, first introduced last year by the food tsar of the government, Henry Dimbleby, had been “stripped to the bone.” in a new policy paper, and it meant that farmers would not be able to produce affordable food.
Batters said he had told the prime minister on Friday that farmers, including those at the West Country headquarters in Tiverton and Honiton, where a crucial by-election would be held on June 23, were furious with post-Brexit policies. they would make them poorer and leave them unable to compete with foreign producers.
The by-election, sparked by the resignation of Conservative MP Neil Parish for viewing pornography on his phone in the Commons, is seen as critical of Boris Johnson’s chances of remaining on Downing Street after suffering a landslide of 148 MPs. conservatives in a vote of confidence. last week.
The Liberal Democrats are trying to revoke a Conservative majority of 24,239 in the seat in what would be one of the biggest partial election clashes in recent times. If the Conservatives lose the election to the Liberals and Labor recovers Wakefield on the same day, many Conservative MPs believe Johnson will not be able to survive as Prime Minister.
Last night West Country headquarters farmers said the farming community would vote en masse against conservatives. This was because they faced a combination of lost revenue from subsidies and pressure to prioritize the environment over food production, when the country needed to be more self-sufficient in food.
A large-scale rural riot in the by-elections would aggravate the Prime Minister’s problems over Partygate and the cost-of-living crisis, which are already affecting Conservative support.
Commenting on the government’s new food strategy leaked to The Guardian on Friday, Batters said she was “delighted to see a compromise on food security”, but added that the original strategy had been “stripped to the bare bones”. and that there was no plan. on how to implement your overall goals.
“We want to eat more British and more local food, but again I’m just wondering how,” he said, adding, “It’s great to have words, but it has to have a really meaningful delivery and we’re not seeing it in this paper yet. ”
Batters said he met with Johnson on Friday and told him farmers wanted support to produce food as well as help the environment. “I said that’s what Tiverton farmers want to see. Farmers want detail.” He said there is currently no clear policy.
Boris Johnson meets with voters at the Royal Cornwall Show. Photo: Andrew Parsons CCHQ / Parsons Media
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would not comment on the strategy document until it is released on Monday.
Farmers have become increasingly disillusioned, having promised that their previous EU subsidies would be completely replaced after Brexit. Instead, they are being phased out, and basic payments are down 20% this year. In addition, they claim that the scheme to pay them for the adoption of green policies such as the planting of new trees and hedges and the construction of new ponds (known as salvage) remains vague and confusing.
Jake Fiennes, sustainable farmer and author of Land Healer: How Farming Can Save Britain’s Countryside, said: “It’s a pretty weak 27-page document that says nothing. I see the agricultural sector disappointed, I see low environmental ambition, I see “It’s very short-sighted. Food security and environmental resilience are the challenges of this generation, and it’s very depressing.”
John Wescott, a meat and sheep farmer in Bampton near Tiverton, told the Observer that “most farmers will vote against the Conservatives not because they want it in the long run, but because their policies do nothing to help them and they were hurting their business. ”
Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader and now the party’s spokesman for rural affairs, called the new strategy “shy” and “no real change”.
Henry Dimbleby was commissioned by the government to produce a review that would address the obesity crisis as well as the affordability of healthy foods. He was also asked to show how this could be done in an environmentally friendly way.
But its ambitious recommendations, such as expanding free school meals, a 30% reduction in meat and dairy consumption and giving strong protection to British farmers by not undermining them in trade agreements with other countries, are not ‘have adopted.
His method was hailed by organic farmers as a project to make Britain self-sufficient in food without compromising the environment and to help farmers move from intensive farming.