Following the Government’s response to an Urgent Question on the Budget’s impact on farming communities, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown confronts the Minister with a heartfelt plea he received from a 75-year-old farmer who is angry that this Budget has, in his words, “destroyed everything I have ever worked for.”
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (North Cotswolds) (Con)
I declare my interests as a farmer.
A 75-year-old farmer emailed me last week and said
“we work long hours, usually alone.”
He said that agriculture
“has one of the highest suicide rates of any industry. There is a great deal of talk these days about mental health and the need to alleviate stress in the workplace, yet”
last week the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for agriculture
“destroyed everything I have ever worked for.”
How would the Minister answer that?
The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Daniel Zeichner)
I would reassure that farmer. I am afraid that I do not think he is correct on that, and we are absolutely determined to ensure that he can hand on his farm, as others have done before, but let us ensure that he gets the proper advice.