Carmichael highlights Budget and food security concerns in NFUS conference speech

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has highlighted the farming and crofting community’s concerns about the upcoming Budget and government priorities on food security, during his speech to the National Farmers’ Union Scotland Annual Conference. Speaking at the event in Ingilston yesterday [Thursday], Mr Carmichael noted his family background as an islander and the son of farmers, and called the protection of farm budgets an “early test” of the DEFRA Secretary Steve Reed. 

In his speech, Mr Carmichael said:

“For rural communities across the United Kingdom it could be a day of reckoning.  At the very least it will also be the first sign of the direction of travel that we should expect to see for the next few years.

“Some of what we are hearing should give us cause for concern.  The briefing in recent weeks in relation to possible changes to Inheritance Tax, specifically to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, increased last weekend and that should be a serious concern for family farm businesses and, by extension, rural communities.

“Since the election we have had it confirmed that the DEFRA budget for agricultural support has been underspent by a cumulative total of £350 million over the last three years. The future of that money is an early test for Steve Reid and his team. Let me say this – if the Secretary of State is prepared to stand his ground and to fight his corner to keep that cash then he will have my support and the support, I believe, of every farming community in the country. 

“As this parliament progresses the challenge will be for our governments in Westminster and Holyrood to give proper meaning to what is meant by “food security”. War in Ukraine was a sharp reminder to us all that if we are serious about food security then we have to be serious about supporting domestic food production.

“Genuine food security will only come with fairness in the supply chain. Eleven years on from its creation, it is clear that the Groceries Code Adjudicator needs a root and branch overhaul, based on a more sophisticated understanding of the whole supply chain from farm to fork.”