Brexit Hub

Defra’s new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme must stop the uplands from being destocked and wilded by stealth, says Phil Stocker, chief executive of the National Sheep Association.

Conservative MPs who voted with the Government to reject an Agriculture Bill amendment to ban low-standard imports have been accused of ‘chucking farmers under a bus’ by the Liberal Democrats.

The Tories have already broken their promise to protect British farmers from being undermined by low-standard imports – now they have one chance left to redeem themselves, says Labour Shadow Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner.

Ahead of the Commons debate on Lords amendments to the Agriculture Bill this week, Ben Lake, Ceredigion MP and Plaid Cymru’s agriculture spokesman in Westminster, warns protecting food standards today is about building a better rural economy for tomorrow.

Ministers have been urged to take action on the threats to the sugar and sheep industries as the end of the Brexit transition period approaches.

With the BPS set for extinction between now and 2028, farmers can make use of a free service to help their businesses navigate the Brexit transition, says James Dunn, technical director for business development at ADAS.

The Trade and Agriculture Commission could allow Britain to lead the way in raising global standards, but it needs to be given the time and power to do so, says David Herbert, a South Welsh smallholder producing eggs and poultry.

Trade Secretary Liz Truss has defended the UK’s ‘robust’ procedures for parliamentary scrutiny of future trade deals.

Defra Secretary George Eustice has shot down NFU hopes of beefing up the Trade Commission through an amendment to the Agriculture Bill.

MPs who voted down an Agriculture Bill amendment to ban low-standard imports in May could have been waiting for a Government concession. But if they choose to reject another similar Lords amendment in two weeks, they will not be forgiven, says Tom Lancaster, head of land use policy at the RSPB.