Rachel Gilmour

I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, we discussed it at the Public Accounts Committee just last week. Farmers cannot operate in the dark; they need certainty. Farming is not a short-term enterprise. Decisions taken today affect planting, stocking, investment and land management years into the future. On the Public Accounts Committee last week, we examined the resilience of the UK’s food supply chain to disruption, and the session reinforced what many of us have long argued, which is that food security is national security. As co-chair of the APPG on farming, I heard the same message in our meeting with representatives from across the sector on Monday. That is why it should never be lost on us that farmers are on the frontline of climate change. They see changing weather patterns, degraded soils and seasonal disruption before anyone else. The woodlands, wetlands and grasslands they manage are essential to our biodiversity and natural environment. Farmers are famously stoic and resilient, yet even the strongest shoulders can carry only so much. The financial pressures, the uncertainty, the long days, the drought, the extreme heat, bluetongue and now the recent SFI disappointment have combined into an overwhelming burden for many. For some, that burden has led them to take their own lives. I conclude with a simple message to the farmers of Tiverton and Minehead: “I am with you.” What my farmers and I want to know is whether this Labour Government are with them.