Joe Morris

Many farmers who are small operators have expressed their frustration to me about people assuming that the majority of farmers are incredibly wealthy and can shoulder the burdens. I am reminded of the current Leader of the Opposition, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), saying to the National Farmers Union conference that a lot of farmers did not do it for the money—forgive me if that is not a direct quote. It was brought up at an NFU roundtable during the election campaign and was a source of genuine anger. I will say a bit more about my constituency in Northumberland. We are proud to be the home—I apologise to Scottish colleagues—of one of the oldest tartans in the world: Northumberland tartan, which is woven, of course, from Northumbrian wool. I raise that not simply out of pride for my constituency, but because we are talking about food production as well as a potential staple of clothing production. I was told by my staff that, despite my football leanings, it was Northumberland tartan that inspired Newcastle United’s home kit. I should put on the record that my football allegiances lie with Sunderland, but I have yet to find a tartan that inspired their kit. Ultimately, I encourage everyone to support local producers and to show pride in their community by purchasing home-produced clothing where possible, rather than chucking their money away on fast fashion from the likes of Temu, Boohoo or ASOS. Ultimately, my county did not just mine coal but wove gold. As one of the farmers said to me, if we took the farms out of the Hexham constituency, it would be a disaster for our area. It would not only chip away at the foundation of our economy, but destroy the quintessential nature of much of Northumberland. As we consider the future of sheep farming, and of upland farming in general across the country, I urge the Minister to embrace that new relationship; to embrace the fact that many colleagues on the Government side have been returned by constituencies with huge agricultural footprints; and to engender a relationship with those communities based on mutual respect. I consider myself an environmentalist —it was the climate movement that drew me into politics—but I do not see any tension between ensuring our planet can survive, making improvements in biodiversity and securing futures for generations to come, and securing a future for our farming communities and a nation that is able to feed itself. I hope that the Minister will comment on his plans to work with the Department for Business and Trade on the reform of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to reassure my farmers that this Government stand on the side of producers as well as consumers, and that he will comment on what I hope will be a respectful and open dialogue, particularly regarding upland farmers who feel that the system of Byzantine regulations created by the previous Government regarding post-Brexit subsidy arrangements is weighted against them. One farmer I recently met said that the Government had managed to create a lot of jobs in navigating those arrangements rather than getting the money where it needs to be.