Tim Farron

Tim Farron

Liberal Democrat — Westmorland and Lonsdale

Speaking in the House of Commons on 8 October 2024

Debate

Farming and Food Security

Contribution

The right hon. Member is absolutely right. I support the NFU’s call for accurate labelling that is enforceable, and he is right to say that. To move on, if we are losing farms and losing farmers, which we are as we speak, not only are we losing our ability to feed ourselves as a country, but we are undermining our ability to deliver for the environment. Let us not fall into the mistake of thinking that this is a debate between caring for the environment and producing food; we either do them both or we do not do them at all. Some 70% of England’s land mass is agricultural, and the figure would be greater across the UK as a whole. If we think we are tackling the climate and nature crises without farmers, we are kidding ourselves. The greenest policies in the world will just be bits of paper in a drawer if we do not have the farmers on the ground to put them into practice.

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