As Westminster turns a blind eye to rural Britain, NFU chairman Tim Gelfs argues that farmers must take their case to the people
Image: Laura Hitchcock
One of my favourite lines from Darkest Hour is: “You can’t negotiate with a tiger when your head is in his mouth.” It often comes to mind when thinking about this Government’s approach to rural policy. How do you even begin to lobby or negotiate with a Government like this? Short answer – you can’t!
We are dealing with an ideology: a tunnelled view that appears to be unwilling to listen. We are in uncharted waters.
It has been a disaster for rural businesses since the beginning: the attack on IHT, the collapse of the SFI through mismanagement and interference from the Treasury, no leadership for the control of TB … the list goes on! As I write, we have just listened to a disaster of a Budget for business – yet again no ambition for growth, and no mention of the rural economy, apart from in the small print.
It’s not from a lack of effort from rural businesses that our voices are not being heard – there have been MP meetings, lobbying at the highest level by industry representatives, protests, TV and radio interviews and headlines in the papers, all highlighting the issues of our rural economy. Sure, we have been thrown a few crumbs from the high table, but it’s all on their terms.
Carnival protest
We saw another attack on our rural way of life with a complete U-turn from the Met on the tractor protest on Budget day, with unfounded excuses of ‘disruption’. They would have a case if the last rallies had seen unrest – or even arrest! But there was none. In fact, we have had a great relationship with the Met over the past year: they are quite complimentary of how we have conducted ourselves. The protests have had a carnival atmosphere, with good humour and great public support while still getting our message across. Are we disrupting businesses? Go and ask the pubs, cafes and restaurants if we were a disruption … except maybe to their card machines and tills!
So how do we change direction? How do we get Government to engage with conviction rather than mere lip service?
We have just witnessed the answer in this Budget: the Government is on the ropes, weak from the top … and MPs have smelled blood!
The Budget was not for the country, it was to appease the backbenchers, it was a job survival Budget. A year ago, most of the backbenchers were newbies, overwhelmed by their new place of work.
But as they gain confidence, their voice gets louder and stronger. And the way to the backbenchers is through the people who put them there, their constituents. We have a golden opportunity every month when the latest inflation figures are released.
Food inflation is always highlighted, and it is impacting on everybody’s life: we should capitalise on the connection between this and the attack on rural businesses. We need to get the message to the towns and cities of our green and pleasant land … and we need to drive this from the bottom because the top isn’t listening!
