Prime minister hails ‘path of change’ in Wales and Westminster at Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno…reports Asian Lite News
Keir Starmer said he would defend the budget “all day long” at the Welsh Labour conference, amid protests by farmers outside the venue. In his first address to the Welsh Labour conference since taking power, the prime minister went on to hail a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
“Make no mistake, I will defend our decisions in the budget all day long,” he said. “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. “I will defend the tough decisions that would be necessary to stabilise our economy and I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales, finally turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
However, angry farmers held a tractor protest outside the conference opposing the inheritance tax changes the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, unveiled in the budget last month.
The protest organisers, Digon yw Digon, said: “Enough is enough. Our government isn’t working or listening to us. This is an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers and rural communities.
“We call on everyone to attend in solidarity – whether by walking, driving or bringing agricultural vehicles such as tractors, slurry tankers, lorries, or 4x4s with trailers.” Gareth Wyn Jones, a Welsh farmer and YouTuber, told Sky News that the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
He said farmers plan to deliver Starmer a letter that starts with the words “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” He said: “They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support, not more hindrance, so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He also said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food, adding: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Meanwhile, Starmer confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire for 2025. During a visit to Airbus in north Wales on Friday with the Welsh first minister, Eluned Morgan, Starmer said it was a “gamechanger” to have Labour governments in both Wales and Westminster.
He said communities in Wales and across the UK were ready for an exciting new era, with “Labour Wales and Labour Britain” pulling in the same direction once more and serving the people of Wales with the “full force of our union”.
Lady Morgan, who took over as the leader of Welsh Labour in August, touted the “power in partnership” between two Labour governments working together to deliver for the people of Wales.
She announced £22m to tackle NHS waiting lists in Wales, in addition to £28m already pledged, while the prime minister described the £21bn 2025 budget allocation for Wales unveiled last month as “a record figure”.
Farm income falls
Income fell on almost all farm types in England last year, as extreme weather hit yields and the government cut subsidies.
Farmers fear future hits to their industry after a hugely unpopular change to agricultural property relief which means some farms will be saddled with a large, unexpected tax bill, and a surprise, severe cut to the EU-derived basic payments scheme meaning a shortfall in cash that they had not predicted.
Last year, average farm business income was lower for all farm types except specialist pig farms and specialist poultry farms, figures the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show. Extreme weather including floods hit farmers hard, causing entire crops to be submerged. Experts said these events were being made more likely by climate breakdown.
Cereal farms fared the worst, with a drop in income of 73%. For general cropping farms, the average income was 24% lower. Dairy farm income plummeted by 68%, and on lowland-grazing livestock farms, average income fell by nearly a quarter to £17,300, driven by lower output from crop and sheep enterprises.
However, payments under the post-Brexit nature-friendly farming schemes gave farmers a small boost: net income from agri-environmental activities increased by an average of 14% to £10,600.
Olly Harrison, who farms cereal near Liverpool, said next year’s numbers were likely to be even worse as the bad weather continued in 2024 and the government was cutting grants to farmers for technology.
“That data is a year out of date. We’ve had the worst harvest ever just now for cereals: no sunlight in June, poor planting last autumn, the perfect storm, floods – [income] will go down next year,” he said. “I bet food self-sufficiency has gone down after this last harvest – it’s got to be. I’ve been growing overwintered bird food and deliver for nature, and have the kit and technology to do no-till [farming]. If the government invested we could boost food security and nature.”
The UK is about 60% self-sufficient in food and reliant on imports. Harrison is one of the organisers of a mass protest expected to take place in Westminster next week over changes announced in the budget earlier this month.
Speaking in parliament, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said the government had “rashly cut the basic payment by 76%. That will hit livestock farmers, upland farmers, dairy farmers and destabilise the whole industry.”
Responding, the farming minister, Daniel Zeichner, said the Labour government had given the “biggest boost to sustainable farming that the country has seen”. He said it was “determined to tackle the extreme climate crisis we have globally” by changing the payment schemes.
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