The Defra website is more of a history lesson than a celebration of new opportunities and freedoms for farmers. Instead of brimming over with the changes they want to make to our fishing and farming policies now we can control them, it faithfully records the EU laws, rules and old schemes that dominated us for so long. It tells us there is a Countryside Productivity scheme offering only small grants funded by the EU, but goes on to say it is closed. It tells us there were forestry,Water, waste and food productivity schemes but these are also all closed.
It is true it does also now set out more recent U.K. schemes of support but most of these are for environmental improvements. Some of its latest initiatives in wilding and nature look like UK versions of work being done in the EU. Some are worthwhile but the overall impression given is the Department wants less land available for food production and has not yet got round to offering positive support for better farming to boost our output.
You could of course say why not leave it all to the market? There are two reasons. The first is other countries do not , so the UK has to compete under the EU free trade arrangements with farms on the continent that do get subsidies and other support. The second is if the Department itself is offering cash incentives not to farm on potential farmland it may need to level the playing field by offering suitable help for good farming on that land. It is all very well to say wilding cuts the carbon output on the land wilded, but if we then have to transport food into the UK from hundreds or even thousands of miles away, grown and produced in carbon generating ways, we have done nothing to save the planet and much to damage the UK economy.
The government has promised new schemes to stimulate innovation, investment and promotion of more U.K. food. I wish it would get on with them. We need to promote our farms and food now. There is no good reason for delay.
June 5, 2021
Hear, hear.The same can be said for getting rid of much other unnecessary EU regulation
Get on with it BoJo and Sir JR keep banging the drum !!!
June 5, 2021
Indeed and cheap on demand energy is vital to be competitive in much of UK farming and most other industries too.
June 5, 2021
Would you care to list a few of these regulations, which you claim are doing so much harm, and explain why?
I mean, like material, measurable, and significant harm?
June 5, 2021
@MiC; All the anti carbon regulations for a start.
There is little real evidence that ‘excess’ CO2 has any effect on climate [1], given that we are coming out of a 300 or so year high caused by the developed worlds industrial revolutions and massive coal fired expansion, so if we want to keep the climate as recorded during the Victorian era we might actually need to substantially increase the amount of Carbon emitted, not reduce it!
[1] a computer model merely outputs what the code allows, GIGO…
June 5, 2021
They are not European Union rules, but global aims.
June 6, 2021
@MiC; But enshrined in to EU laws and regulations, so they are EU aims, the EU could have been like many other countries who either take no notice such ‘aims’ that come out of the UN’s Climate Change Conferences or only ever pay lipservice to them, even some EU member countries, such as Germany!
June 5, 2021
+1; the idea of global warming has been comprehensively trashed. Not only was the data used (by Mann then enthusiastically promoted by Gore) suspect but data from the Mediaeval Warm Period was ignored. Now it is a convenient tool for government to control and ultimately ruin our lives. It has to be stopped. Real pollution is a separate matter and we need to bear in mind that the alternative energy systems being proposed are far from free of pollution.
June 5, 2021
Farmers have to send their sheep and cattle deaths out for cremation at a cost – usually a vet’s bill first, then transport and cremation elsewhere. Allow farmers who wish to, reserve a place on their farms for cremating the dead animals.
June 5, 2021
@Fred.H; I’m with you on this, regarding disposal, if it was good enough for the govt and Army during the 2000/01 Foot & Mouth outbreak then surely it should be good enough for farmers today.
That said, I still believe a vets certification of death should be needed, perhaps at a regulated fee, to prevent the hiding of notifiable diseases, as some European farmers were doing during the BSE crisis in the early 1990s – of course a country will not have disease in their farm stock is it is not or can not be reported!
On a related issue we need to get back to having local, perhaps ultra local, slaughter houses too, both for human consumption and those old ‘knackers yards’, together with the regulation/inspections of old.
June 5, 2021
Like, that affects you, and millions more, right?
June 5, 2021
@MiC; It affects everyone who buys produce that comes from livestock farming (and yes that can also mean mixed farms), were do you thin the farmer gets their money from if not farm gate prices and the higher the production costs the higher the farm gate price – of not the farmer will soon go bust!
Related to beef production; I noted today on “Farming Today this Week” there was some idiots suggesting/agreeing to the idea that a carbon tax should be placed upon meat sales, of course they totally forgot/ignored the high carbon footprint of the ‘veggie burger’, from ploughing the field through to the processing of plant based produce into a meant look-alike….
June 5, 2021
Far better sources than myself for this information, ask any farmer or indeed any businessman or landlord. Overwhelming evidence and studies to support this position.
June 5, 2021
That’s “I can’t, then”
June 5, 2021
-1
June 6, 2021
No it is just what I said. Plenty of easy ti find better sources. When I have more time I could easily do so.
June 5, 2021
Martin, There are tens of thousands of pages of EU Directives, Decisions and Regulations. Even you would not be so bold as to claim that every page of them is necessary. Moreover since EU bureaucrats know nothing about the real world, EU interventionism tends to be directed by lobbyists. So EU rules are not only overly prescriptive, they are also corrupt.
Although we have exited most of the EU, we remain partly under the control of the EU – directly in some areas (NIP, CFP), and indirectly (by transposing EU Regulations, and by continued domestic law in compliance with EU Directives). Every one of these rules needs reviewing to throw out the useless, modify others, and keep a few.
The UK is still under the baleful control of the EU’s CFP. The newly signed NIP is used by the EU to annex part of the UK. Then there are others such as the catastrophic global warming agenda rules, the GDPR, to the ridiculous sheep ornament Regulation (1462/2006). All these need scrapping, or drastically revising. No other anglosphere nation has hobbled itself with quite the perversity of EU rules, try as they might.
June 5, 2021
Pythagorean theorem was stated in 24 words.
The Lordâs Prayer contains 66 words
Archimedes Principle was stated in 67 words
EU regulation of cabbage sales consists of 26,430 words.
Nothing can be simple for the EU, as they steadfastly adhere to the Napoleon Code i.e. nothing is permitted unless specifically allowed by Law written at the greatest length. Says it all, really.
June 5, 2021
Martin is not asking you to list tens of thousands of EU regulations you want to scrap.
He is asking you to name one or two.
And you canât.
June 5, 2021
See previous.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
Brilliant reply Nick C.
June 5, 2021
MiC
“Would you care to list a few of these regulations, which you claim are doing so much harm, and explain why?”
I will –
Banning of Creosote = a lot more fence panels and sheds rotting out prematurely = a lot more wastage of timber resources.
Banning of xylene in paints = increased manufacturing = more strain on the environment and climate.
Banning / reduction of food preservatives = wasted food = more strain on natural and animal resources.
Banning of leaded fuel = millions of cars scrapped = a lot of environmentally damaging emisions from the recycling process.
Highly stupid move to EU domestic wiring colours = actually caused many people expense, and some their lives.
Oh…and don’t think of building a house, they’ll even force YOU to build YOUR house THEIR way in YOUR country.
Shall I go on ?
You might be ok with the EU and it’s cowards in our governments deciding how you should live your life, how much doing so should cost, and what piss poor quality of goods you get for your money….but I am not and neither are millions of others who like myself work hard for our wages.
EU law is not acceptable to us and will not be tolerated, and as this government will eventually come to realise Mrs May’s spiteful enshrining of EU law into UK law should not have been allowed.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
Another great answer Steve.
June 6, 2021
Banning things which kill people, and you write that as if it were a bad thing.
June 5, 2021
I donât know the regulation number Martin but what allowed this extra retrospective taxation âThe European Commission has reviewed the economic performance of all member states since 1995, and revised its economic statistics to take greater account of things like income from the black economy. The result is that the UK faces by far the largest extra payment.â ÂŁ1.7bn from prostitution and drugs in the black economy so the majority that donât use these products paid the bill.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
Weâve been waiting for 5 years to hear what you want to get rid of. And – beyond cheaper tampons – none of you can ever tell us.
June 5, 2021
What?! There have been dozens of proposals for this, although to date we havenât seen much from the govt. they include MIFID2, GDPR, Solvency2, the CAP, the CFP, the anti-science policies on gene-editing, all manner of distortions under state aid policy, the enabling of politicised judicial activism due to the adoption of vague platitudes as quasi-constitutional principles, and of course the whole area of the customs union and free trade.
The jury is out in Brexit. On the one hand project fear has been shown to be a shower of nonsense and lies, we have the big saving of money, and the independent trade policy is an emerging triumph – the complete opposite of what you were assuring us.
On the other hand we have yet to see much divergence from EU laws and regs. If we donât, I suspect at some point there could be support for an EEA / EFTA model. The clock is ticking.
Anyway the great thing is the disaster which you forecast hasnât happened. You were wrong, you should be big enough to admit it.
June 5, 2021
MiC and Andy
You’ve had many responses from people posting on here giving lists of laws, rules, regulations and directives that we would benefit from deleting or modifying.
You just keep (deliberately) forgetting that you have already had these.
June 5, 2021
I think you will find they wanted cheaper tampons not to get rid of them!
I would get rid of almost everything the EU forced onto the UK over 40 odd years and most of the home grown red tape insanities too. Start with employment laws, energy and all the daft planning restrictions.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
It must be about that long we’ve asked Sir John to get rid of YOU -but like his Government he doesn’t do the bleedin’ obvious to cheer us all up!
June 5, 2021
Fred.H
If only, what a tonic that would prove to be!
If Andy and MiC are so keen on the EU I suggest that they move there, they obviously donât approve of Democracy in action!
June 5, 2021
Andy, well you’ve got your answers now. MIC has gone quiet.
June 5, 2021
DEFRA is now doubt full of civil servants imbued with EU think and by the sound of it carrying on in the same vein since our departure.
If the minister in charge is an unreformed remainer then nothing will change. I would ask the minister what his plan is for the future of agriculture and horticulture in the UK. Time for another of your letters perhaps. Apart from the Home Office and Overseas Trade it would appear that all has been overshadowed by Covid. We are long overdue an appraisal of most ministries plans post our departure from the EU.
June 5, 2021
So do you advocate some kind of Thought Police, to bar people from responsible positions if they should have any favourable views of the most advanced, civilised, and successful peace project that this troubled world has ever seen?
And if they should require evidence, on which to make decisions, and prefer the Precautionary Principle to arrant recklessness?
June 5, 2021
Mic
Why your sudden praise of the Swiss system of governance.
As to your thought police crap, you only choose the other side to play for your side in extreemis as a substitute.
Suggestion, get yourself off to this EU you adore, thats if they will have you. While in the Uk you just can’t get your head round we have left and are going through a period of decontamination.
June 5, 2021
agricola
Exactly. The ministers should have nailed their vision to the mast on where they see their department in 3, 6, 12, months and subsequent years clearly setting out the way forward. If the civil servants don’t like the vision then that is the time for them to hold their hand up and leave. Those who stay are all heading in the right direction together.
As they use to say in the navy “sign on or ship out”
June 5, 2021
agricola. That sounds like a very good idea to me. If any one CAN prod our Carbon Neutral and otherwise hoodwinked government into sensible action J.R. is the most likely person.
June 5, 2021
âTime for Defra to use our freedoms from the EUâ
The government should be calling the shots. To say DEFRA should be doing so is a cop out.
Itâs often very convenient for the government to give reasons why they cannot do something.
What happened to âtaking back controlâ ?
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
There is a lot of public support for UK produced food. I note many companies have started putting the Union Flag on their products to make selection easier. I despair at all the good arable land being lost to housing and therefore increasing our reliance on imported food, with all the environmental damage caused by transporting this food, plus the loss of UK revenue. The UK needs to become more self sufficient in all areas, not just food.
I also despair at the UK taking ‘refugees’ from safe countries and providing free everything (including NHS) to anyone who turns up in our country. Soft touch UK is a magnet for all the worlds scroungers, misfits, and all the people with ailments that are expensive to treat in other countries, as they are free in the UK.
June 5, 2021
@Shirley M; “I note many companies have started putting the Union Flag on their products to make selection easier”
…and they have been doing so for at least the last 20 years.
“I despair at all the good arable land being lost to housing and therefore increasing our reliance on imported food”
Just remember, many houses in the past, perhaps you own house, will have been built on what was once good arable land, and what of all the land lost to industrial development, should we all simply go back to a pre industrial age. Sorry but you simply come over as a NIMBY in my opinion, with a large dose of “Do as I say, not what I do” thrown in. Also how does your complaint fit with so many complaints that anything but good arable land (flood plains) are being built upon.
“The UK needs to become more self sufficient in all areas, not just food. “
Something we have never been, something we can never be, unless we choose to further de-industrialise, further restrict our choice of diet – I hope you do not like Bananas and the such!…
June 5, 2021
Germany, France and Spain all take significantly more asylum seekers than us.
And, contrary to your claim, asylum seekers do not get everything for free. In fact they are not entitled to benefits – they rely mostly on charity, and they get less than ÂŁ5 a day for food. They are banned from working whilst their claim is considered – something Mr Redwoodâs party could easily change – so they cannot provide for themselves.
The people who get everything for free are pensioners – ie) you.
June 5, 2021
@Andy; “The people who get everything for free are pensioners”
Still not grasp the facts yet I see, such pensioners have been paying into the National Insurance system all their adult lives [1], they are getting nothing more from the system than what they paid in for and thus expect out. I know you and many of your peers in their late teens and early twenties are unhappy that you will not get as good a deal, but it’s not as if you have not been forewarned (to make alternate arrangements), it’s not as though you will reach retirement age and only then find out.
[1] unless they qualified for NI credits, just as your generation still do, and a safety net that I hope will carry on being available
June 5, 2021
Spain has just returned a load of illegals.
June 6, 2021
Yes, that’s what member countries of the European Union do with those found to be there illegally.
June 6, 2021
@MiC; “Found to be there illegally”
So when will France be ‘returning’ all those who are camped out in the Calais area, rather than assisting them (through inaction) to find ways to enter the UK illegally? If those camping out in the area were in France legally they would have EU asylum papers, many of who would -if they are telling the truth about age- be living with Forster families, or have received the paperwork that gives them the right to remain in France and by extension the EU, and thus (prior to Brexit) enter the UK and seek work via the front door…
Spain returns illegal migrants when it suits them politically/economically. Not sure what the situation is now but in the past many a Spanish fruit grower etc. had often relied on cheap North African illegal migrant labour and thus the national and regional govts turned a blind eye.
June 5, 2021
Andy
Weâre not getting anything âfreeâ believe it or not but weâve actually paid into the system all our lives!
Presumably you will refuse to draw your pension when that day arrives?
Give it a rest… please, youâre becoming extremely tiresome and Iâm sorry to say just plain boring
June 5, 2021
That’s nonsense Andy
You have been told this before and yet you keep repeating this nonsense,
Go on the internet and look it up.
June 5, 2021
Andy I am getting sick of telling you all the entitlements in the UK that asylum seekers get for free. A room provided is a cost, the weekly allowance is a cost. https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get
Free Medical, Free Dentistry. Etc.
June 6, 2021
@a-tracy: You should also check the next page from the URL you cited, eligibility;
So the payments are not unconditional, especially the last part.
So they get a small part of what UK citizens get, or should be getting, if they have no other income, shock horror – it’s called living in a civilised society, or used to be… Also remember migrants/asylum seekers are prevented from working, doing so can adversely affect their claim and also be very problematic for any employer who might either have simply felt sorry or been duped.
Andy is correct, ÂŁ39.63 pw per person does equate to ÂŁ5 per day or so, perhaps you should try clothing, feeding and keeping yourself clean yourself on that.
Why do you object to migrants/asylum seekers receiving free health care, would you prefer such people are wandering the streets passing on disease, or being found dead in their bedsits. But then you also do not seem to worried that there are British Tax payers how can not get the health care they need either because a vocal minority of politically influential people object to paying slightly higher taxes to better fund the NHS!
June 6, 2021
Jerry, I donât object why are you putting words in my mouth. I keep telling Andy there is a cost. I would prefer it actually if all the costs are noted, how much is there accommodation costing in the hotels we are putting them up in, those in the centre of Glasgow at market rates were over ÂŁ100 per night. How many Council houses are allocated in the UK to asylum seekers how much is this costing, how many share per house? How much is paid out in interpreters, lawyers, court cases over the six months initial claim and typically 12 months under appeal. Are they fed by the hotels as part of their lodgings? Are they the big increase in food bank users. Just what is the full picture of UK charity – as I say I donât object I just couldnât find all the costs and spending and whether that is classed as foreign aid or not? Do you know?
June 6, 2021
By the way Jerry I have said repeatedly on here that I think they should be working. We are regularly told there are jobs that require filling on the Living wage and they should do them and then they can contribute to their owns costs as the majority of the rest of us do.
Also, I read somewhere that they were given clothing, phone allowances, other charitable contributions from organisations in the UK is this not true?
June 7, 2021
@a-tracy; No one has ever suggested there is no cost to the tax payer, and few object, other than those whose intent seems to be to stir up bad feelings for political advantage.
I also think these ‘asylum seekers’ should be allowed to work, and be paid the going rate, over the counter (not under, as many are forced to do now, and thus be open to exploration), but even when eligible EU migrants are employed there is always a small but vocal minority who object, and those objections get even louder with any suggestion of ‘asylum seekers’ being allowed to work (we read comment after comment to that effect on this very site) despite the fact these groups of migrants are often doing the type of work the average UK citizen of similar age don’t want to get out of bed for!
Most migrants come to the UK not to sponge off the state, they come to try and better themselves. How much is the generation(s) of our own over pampered youth and young adults costing the State, some of who have never paid a penny in UK income tax either, partying the nights away in their DWP paid for accommodation, whilst receiving substantially more than the HO asylum seeker allowance you cited, how many who lost their jobs 14 months ago from Hospitality have enquired about building a career in say farming (either seasonal or permanent as migrants often do), living in the provided accommodation if needs-be, not many by the sounds of it, judging by the number of farmers who struggled to find labour last year and perhaps again this year too.
We need an honest conversation, not the continued finding of scapegoats….
June 8, 2021
Jerry, Andy claimed “And, contrary to your claim, asylum seekers do not get everything for free. In fact they are not entitled to benefits â they rely mostly on charity, and they get less than ÂŁ5 a day for food. ”
Of course, they get everything for free, who feeds them in the hotels they’re put up in, who feeds them at the barracks and other lodgings? I could eat for ÂŁ39 per week quite well actually but then one of my favourite meals is lambs liver, mash and green veg or in season or carrots.
When you say ‘few object’ we could test this out with the public. When we are receiving the equivalent of 12 full cruise ships per year as well as paying our 0.7% in foreign aid abroad – we should do as Germany do and count onshore foreign aid spending too.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
George Eustice, the minister in charge, was I believe a Leaver. He also has a farming background, so ask him what his plans are for the future of UK agriculture and horticulture, not forgetting fishing too.
We were in the habit of paying an annual fee for EU membership, a large slice of which went to the CAP. Smaller amounts came back. We now can direct this to support our farming and fishing policy. What is the current plan A.
June 5, 2021
Defra should put the answers to your questions agricola on their website next week. I would if someone challenged my organisation. It doesnât take more than an hour or so to update the words on a website and Iâm sure Defra will have an IT department. Indeed that could be a whole âtagâ who works there, how many in each department, who are the heads, what are they responsible for so we know who to direct our questions to about so much farmland for the last thirty years left barren or with rapeseed.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
You complain about transporting food into the UK from thousands of miles away because it does nothing to save the planet and much to damage the UK economy – yet you are a cheerleader for a trade deal on food with Australia. I suppose consistency isn’t your strong point, though blaming the EU for everything – even after we’ve left – certainly is
June 5, 2021
What choice do we have when our neighbours are erecting barriers? These neighbours were offered a free trade agreement and came back to take the food off our tables, literally. When we are prohibited from moving food around our own property, something is wrong. Not so much sharing our cheque book with the neighbours, but the neighbours holding a gun to our head unless we let them rent a room in our house for free.
June 5, 2021
@Carson; I guess you miss understand what a “Free Trade Deal” is and what a “Single Market” is, the former allows one to trade with a distant market if we wish, the latter makes it almost a necessity to trade with a distant market.
Also, as I pointed out to @David Brown a couple of days ago, in many instances it is less polluting to ship goods from the other side of the world than it is to transport them a mere 1500km across the EU.
June 5, 2021
Carson, Iâm sure that freight ships Or freight flights from Australia do not just come directly to the UK? They would do round robin trips and take products back that they require otherwise it is not worth it for them.
I donât blame EU for everything. I blame this government with an 80 MP majority for not getting on with tasks quickly. The UK government needs to be more agile, break projects down into smaller achievable chunks then put the gains out there for people to read about.
June 5, 2021
It’s not just about food from Australia, that is the smaller part of it. The bigger prize which such a deal portends is to get into TPP to get bigger markets for our exports in the far east. The beauty of this deal, when it is negotiated, is that we will be dealing with growing economies, have high standards free trade and all without having to cede our law making, money and borders to foreigners. This will shift our reliance on just Western Europe to a more global outlook which is what Brexiteers wanted.
June 5, 2021
Carson, JR has specifically and often called for more home grown food. More UK produced food means lower levels of food imports, not higher. Moreover, food from the southern hemisphere complements UK food – because of the seasonal variation. And it makes more sense to import from friends and neutrals like Australia, Chile, etc, than from the hostile EU.
June 5, 2021
CARSON.
I think that our host is against transporting food for thousands of miles unnecessarily. My example, not our hosts, is Asparagus. We can buy it from UK sources, same day or following day purchase, between about start May to end June. I see no point in purchasing shrivelled asparagus from South America at any other time in the year. By all means extend the growing season of things we can grow by purchasing from Europe.
Because much of what we eat cannot be grown in the UKs climate. Mangoes have to come from the tropics. Given the choice I would switch pork purchasing from northern Europe to Spain where the quality is far superior. The spanish would not buy pork and bacon pumped up with water. Most of our supermarket offering is.
I do not know sufficient about australian beef and lamb and the benefits we might gain from it. Except to say the beef will be hung chilled for the journey so we get 28 day meat by default.
Each case must be judged on its merit. It is glib and easy to condemn our host until you begin looking at it case by case. The greatest gesture the UK buying public can make to food miles is to begin eating seasonally and cease demanding everything all the year round.
June 5, 2021
Apart from George Eustice, like many departments, DEFRA is stuffed full of Remainers.
They need to get on message or the minister needs to have a clear out.
He should start on Monday by ordering a complete re-write of the website.
June 5, 2021
Of course it is stuffed with Remainers. Civil servants are well educated, and we know that the single most relevant factor determining how people voted in 2016 is education – well educated people voted heavily to Remain, people without qualifications voted heavily to Leave. And now we have left. A lot of civil servants are ready to implement the Leave promises – frictionless trade with the EU, lovely trade deals with the rest of the world, continuing subsidies for farmers and fishers etc, lots of cash left over for the NHS. But they know that all these promises were fairy stories.
June 5, 2021
@LBerry – “we know that the single most relevant factor determining how people voted in 2016 is education”
please cite the proof for this,
June 5, 2021
Chris out of date Government websites are just pure laziness. There will be an IT department in Defra, Managers, Senior Managers, tell the public who they are and we can hold them to account if the politicians donât have the time to do it. Get on with it DEFRA.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
Astonishing! Five years on from your referendum win you want the government to produce new schemes to stimulate innovation, investment and promotion yet you don’t even have one idea or suggestion what that might mean. Britain truly was conned in 2016, what an empty vessel Brexiters are
June 5, 2021
One problem commonly talked about in farming circles is that of absentee landlords. Farms bought as a tax benefit with a manager living in the accommodation and just working on auto pilot. No incentive to make changes , increase output, increase stock or improve the equipment. Just soldier away to literally keep the roof over their head. Watch the land he works on get planted with trees and turbines easy subsidised money for the owner. No rewards for the farm manager and his family,. The full potential of the enterprise wasted as there is no incentive to produce more as long as the stock are presentable at market. Slowly the farm runs down outbuildings, fences, ditches gates and grids all in need of repair or replacement. The only positive it gives the farm manager a home and employment. What a waste repeated hundreds of times across the UK.
June 5, 2021
Franchisees of large private organisations are put in league tables of results by the Franchisor. The shareholders and owners of the Franchisor then get to questions failing franchisees and help them to get their house in order. Perhaps British Farming needs a similar regional model to weed out as it were people who need more help to be successful.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
It sounds as though there need to be changes at the official level at DEFRA or at the ministerial level to reorient thinking to the new realities. If the people at the top do not think the way you have set out then nothing will change until they change.
June 5, 2021
Old timer, you donât always have to make changes, you simply have to hold them to account. Challenge the Senior Manager who is responsible for the information and the portal and set them the task to sort this out next week. Updating a website doesnât take long if theyâre doing their jobs properly and have results to tell us about.
June 5, 2021
JR
“….if we then have to transport food into the UK from hundreds or even thousands of miles away, grown and produced in carbon generating ways, we have done nothing to save the planet and much to damage the UK economy.”
One of the many facts blowing holes in climate alarmism arguments.
June 5, 2021
+1
For example the Johnson’s UK zero carbon idiocy, completing ignoring the fact that importing consumables for the ever increasing population of the UK is creating even more global carbon, than if they stopped importing people and the consumables were grown/manufactured here.
June 5, 2021
More examples of the pernicious influence of the EU and the green agenda. The government seems wedded to both of them.
June 6, 2021
When you’re near-surrounded, by a market of half a billion people for your produce, isn’t it simply the physical facts, which mean that you might be interested in what standards and specifications they require before they will buy from you?
So what are you going to do about those?
Well?
June 6, 2021
MiC
You show your lack of experience and knowledge about how companies sell into the numerous export markets they sell goods and offer services to.
They manage to meet the quality, safety and other requirements of every nation in the world that they sell into.
It has been happening for decades.
Even before the EU existed.
June 6, 2021
Martin we were importing more than we were exporting to the EU, tiny little UK, whilst totally compliant with all the regulations, laws, rules for the last forty years – donât you think that was odd in itself, this massive market who were more protectionist than the UK. We always had to be totally compliant with their rules ask Dyson. All the goods currently manufactured meet their standards and specifications and theyâre still playing silly beggars, BUT please carry on telling everyone how the EU is blocking the UK manufacturers and producers that have been compliant for forty years. Keep banging the drum and we will continue to improve our home markets.
June 5, 2021
It seems that the mantra of banning and controlling by Government and Local Authorities is still rife in our society, where do as I say or else is the aim, no matter if it is farming or anything else.
So much easier to try and control, destroy and say no, rather than seeking improvement by being encouraging, positive, and saying yes.
June 5, 2021
+1
However did the country survive and prosper for hundreds of years, prior to the contemporary politicians, with no real world work experience, decided they know best policies…?
June 5, 2021
Alan Jutson
“It seems that the mantra of banning and controlling by Government and Local Authorities is still rife in our society”
To be expected when the country is run by a pro-EU autocratic coward.
June 5, 2021
What I want to know is why and who told them to pay farmers to plant trees and keep permanent pastures (PG01) but not provide the same level of support (financial or otherwise) to grow food?
They make farmers jump through hoops with their over bureaucratic red tape bound forms and, sometimes, unannounced inspections and their ridiculous (costly to the taxpayer) decisions, by people who have never actually worked the land! One is reminded of call centres representatives who read off a script and are stumped if you ask a valid common sense question, because the answer is not on their script.
June 5, 2021
I see a very senior civil servant says they should (only) accept what government wants on some issues. I wonder whether the pro EU element is acting as a fifth column?
Equally a recent authoritative report stated that zero/little is being done to clean up our statute books from old EU legislation. So itâs also sympathising Ministers to blame? Or is it just inefficiency?
Your questioning of Ministers is excellent. One glaring omission. You never seek or get a âby whenâ date hence we get bland kick it into the long grass answers and as seen with this post, we continue to wait for an answer.
June 5, 2021
Far, far and away most European Union rules are lists of safety thresholds. e.g. for hazardous substances in the workplace, contaminants in food and medicines, product specifications for environmental and other reasons, pollutants in the air and in river and sea water and so on.
Which would you like to scrap, and more especially, why?
June 5, 2021
I would scrap them all and allow our elected Parliament to rewrite those which they felt were necessary.
June 6, 2021
So all these European Union safety rules didnât stop Grenfell did it? Or its French manufacturer selling unsafe products for buildings.
June 5, 2021
The longer they leave it John the more land available for house building. I see our border farce entered French waters to pick up immigrants. We will need much of our agricultural land to support all the extra people. Don’t talk about protecting nature when we are going all out to destroy it. Can this government do ANYTHING right? I have no words to describe the anger I and many Conservative voters are feeling. It is total betrayal.
June 5, 2021
Express anger by becoming ex-Conservatives.
June 5, 2021
If you mean in the same sense of Monty Python’s ex-parrot then I’m all for that, Fred.
June 5, 2021
you are just a very naughty boy. Or is that the Boy Robin, your protege.
June 5, 2021
Fred.H
After a lifetime of voting Tory Iâm now an ex-Tory
I even voted for Johnson in the Leadership election, I canât remember ever being so disappointed, what with a wife pretty much the same age as his daughter and a car crash of a private life!
I canât imagine what her Majesty must have thought having had to accept the situation?
June 5, 2021
It is also very funny.
June 5, 2021
You would think it funny being a schoolboy at heart. You have a lot of growing up to do.
June 5, 2021
Its beyond anger
June 5, 2021
Even under any previous Labour or coalition government Iâd felt that they where a British government, with out best interests a heart â but now under this Boris government I actually feel as though theyâre the enemy; fighting against the people
June 5, 2021
Glen Cullen
I agree completely, theirs certainly not acting in the best interests of the voters
Johnson has a particularly untrustworthy air about him, little piggy eyes
And I bet that this wonât survive the moderation process?
June 5, 2021
+1
June 5, 2021
F U S
Border farce.
It’s far worse than that. The captain and crew have cooperated with known law breakers and felons to lift these people in French waters. If they were ordered to do so then those responsible must be held accountable and dismissed. Their actions must come under the heading of gross misconduct. If the Home Secretary was aware of the operation then she and all the members of her senior team involved down to the captain of the vessel should be dismissed with immediate effect.
When for crying out loud are we going to wake up to the incompetence of the people we the taxpayers are paying for?
June 5, 2021
Have I read this correctly, you think the only way UK farming can survive is if the UK government provides subsidies to make the products competitive with those from the EU (and I assume other nations such as China and US)? Whilst I donât disagree with this (weâre not competitive on price) Iâd predict we wonât provide the subsidies required and UK farming will go the way of UK manufacturing.
June 5, 2021
the same can be said of the Home Office – all talk and n action. Yet why are we surprised?
June 5, 2021
Maintaining clean and beautiful countryside with efficient access via well-maintained public footpaths is a public good so we should have no problem paying farmers for it. But we must make sure that any future subsidies are linked to tests of this. As suggested before on this site by Sir John, it would be good to see a return to far more local growing of apples and other fruits and traditional vegetables. Perhaps we might even see a move away from the agri-desert which the distorting EU subsidy scheme has promoted in parts of the Country.
June 5, 2021
I loved the Coxs Orange Pippins. English apples destroyed by the EU.
June 5, 2021
Yes, like they destroyed red telephone boxes, Berni Inns, and half-timbered Morris Travellers eh, JB?
June 5, 2021
That’s a totally ignorant comment.
June 5, 2021
An analyst would have a field day with you.
June 5, 2021
MiC
What a puerile comment, I never could take you seriously!
Letâs try and have an adult debate shall we?
June 5, 2021
I have a post up at Independence Daily about subsidies for public recreational access to the countryside – lockdown experience shows there is a high demand for this. A Fair Field Full of Folk.
JF
June 5, 2021
DEFRA like many government departments is in morning. Leaving the EU is like the passing of a parent.
Now it is free it doesn’t know how to cope, it needs to grow up. The same can be said about the Home Office and their main priority of taxiing and accommodating boat people.
It’s time to get a grip.
June 5, 2021
Ian
The CS and successive governments have been infantised. After decades of others doing their work for them they are at a loss as what to do. No wonder they are clinging to the skirts of the EU for dear life.
June 5, 2021
The government could start by kicking out the senior, middle and lower management who, through intransigence or dogma, refuse to move away from the EU model of red tape bureaucratic and box ticking overdrive idiocy.
June 5, 2021
Mourning.
June 5, 2021
Good morning, Ian.
đ
June 5, 2021
Both DEFRA and the Home Office seem to have their hands tied behind their backs. Lots of intention and zero implementation.
Has Macron threatened to order EDF to cut the power cable across the channel and shut down the power stations that the own here?!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we have a ‘drip of a judge’ ruling that army barracks are not fit for illegal immigrants as there are too many to one room. He is too young to have done National Service with 20 in a barrack room, 2 cold showers, 4 basins and 3 loos.
Climate change and the Greens have killed off all the pre-Brexit plans for our farmers and the Border force are going into French water to pick up the illegals
Tell us the truth Boris or give total support to our farmers and shut the door at Dover!!!
June 5, 2021
+1
I fail to understand, given the money the government has given to France to stop this, why they are not returning the illegals back to the safe country they left!
There is no logic, but acknowledge there may be a subversive reason why they are doing this, whilst simultaneously not telling the native population, who is also expected to pay for it.
And for those will believe uncontrolled illegal immigration should continue, my response to you is, you pay for them and you take on the liability when a crime is committed by these unvetted people. In fact I would be happy to see it put to a referendum, and then we will see how many are prepared to put their money where there mouth is.
June 5, 2021
George Brooks
“Tell us the truth Boris”
…Ha Ha you’re having a laugh mate. Don’t expect him to play straight, like all remainers he’s a coward.
June 5, 2021
DEFRA is pretty fixed on the idea of reintroducing species of wildlife…to reverse the decline.
Why donât they understand what has caused the decline?
Building houses, pesticides, decking, fences, security lights,roads,cars,stupid morons blocking up holes under fences,ditto paving over front gardens.
In other words ….too many people!
Yet still the boats and planes come.
And us in a pandemic….oooooooo!
June 5, 2021
There needs to be a separate Ministry of Agriculture.
Paying lip service to looking after the countryside is a waste of time when 500 houses a day are needed for illegals. That’s a week to fill up our village extension of 2500 houses, then another then another.
June 5, 2021
+1
Trouble is they just donât care.
I donât know what they think will be at the end of it all.
A new Hong Kong? Every green space built on.
June 5, 2021
Sir Joe. Andy and MIC think it’s funny but then most juveniles would.
June 5, 2021
You don’t mention domestic cats, EH.
People wouldn’t need to block holes under their fences either, if not for this scourge.
June 5, 2021
Donât be silly. Cats climb fences.
So do foxes for that matter.
When you block holes under fences you kill hedgehogs.
June 5, 2021
true – we should all line tops of fences with razor wire.
June 5, 2021
You are being totally stupid today. Are you taking something or do you need a doctor?
June 5, 2021
I agree JR, but look around us, thereâs plenty in Whitehall that seem not to wish our country well. Weâre stuck in EU think. Weâre hampered by the not ideal withdrawal agreement, scaremongering still goes on with regards to releasing lockdown, travelling abroad seems to suggest zero Covid is the targetâŠthe âgreenâ agenda.
Itâs as though there are people with a death wish for the country.
June 5, 2021
Sharon
“Weâre stuck in EU think. ”
And will remain so until people get so angry they use the power of elections to get anti – British cowards out of the establishment.
June 5, 2021
Steve
Given the total lack of choice there doesnât seem to be much point in elections?
June 5, 2021
Lester
Agreed but my choice is to vote for Labour, even though I’ve always voted conservative. Reason = just to stick it to the cowards who betrayed us.
June 5, 2021
Well…like it or lump it weâre OUT! Apparently.
Probably there isnât a mandarin in Whitehall who had not âgone nativeâ.
They are bound to be dragging their feet …all the while stamping them in fury!
Is there even a mandarin who knew the job before our submission to the EU?
They need de-programming!
June 5, 2021
Everhopeful
“WellâŠlike it or lump it weâre OUT! Apparently.”
No we’re not. It’s BRINO thanks to wets Johnson & May. And the price the cowards paid to be ‘allowed’ this phoney exit was giving up NI.
June 5, 2021
This is brexit. It really is, Steve.
We tried to tell you that it would be exactly this rubbish.
You see, the other twenty-seven are a large part of the world, right around us. And their union is more settled than for a long time thanks to it.
You can’t wish facts away.
June 5, 2021
Nothing very settled there.
Ructions between the VisegrĂĄd countries and the EU.
Vast tensions and economic disparities between the Club Med countries and Germany and the frugal North.
Lack of fiscal transfers in the Eurozone…nothing to compare with the flow of money to Scotland via the Barnett Formula!
Propensity to impose hard borders when it suits.
Frexit and Marine Le Pen for President….WoooooHoooooo!
June 5, 2021
Just face facts!
June 5, 2021
you mean like Hungary and others buying vaccinations while the rest run by Germans and French keep waiting and dying? Like Spain, Greece, Portugal pleading for tourists – yet the industrial countries keep schtum.
June 5, 2021
MiC
Being lied to and betrayed by one’s leaders has nothing to do with remainer’s claims that the brexit vote was a bad result for the country. But then that’s how you lot operate is’nt it….not fair and square but by getting your man in there and cheating. You learned that trick from Blair.
I don’t believe you should criticise this government, after all they are your people.
June 5, 2021
Thatâs why I put….âApparentlyâ.
Canât pretend Iâm not disappointed.
But the day after Johnson was elected I though â Oh no…this is going to be MUCH WORSE than even the EU!â.
I expect that in reality the mandarins are just following orders?
June 5, 2021
“Instead of brimming over with the changes they want to make to our fishing and farming policies now we can control them, it faithfully records the EU laws, rules and old schemes that dominated us for so long.”
It is not DEFRA’s roll to promote party political wish-lists, in fact it is probably illegal for them to do so, once govt policies or the laws and rules change that is when the content of the site will change surely – no?
June 5, 2021
Well, the Leave campaign emphasised that Brexit would bring freedom from new EU laws rather than an overt promise to tear up as many existing ones as possible. Some of us did adopt this non threatening tone during the campaign and succeeded in persuading waverers to our cause. So perhaps we shouldnât be overly hung ho about all things EU.
June 5, 2021
How many ‘hints’ do DEFRA need to get their act together?
How much time do they need to be effective?
The failings attributed to DEFRA arise again and yet again – Time the minister acted!
Although Mr Eustice MP does seem to be out of his depth.
June 5, 2021
‘How much time do they need to be effective?’
All the time in the World. As it would appear Johnson & Co have no problems with the way DEFRA are behaving.
June 5, 2021
BH
Absolutely correct
+100
June 5, 2021
Does the DEFRA website clarify what parts do not apply to/for the Northern Ireland part of the UK?
Like the caveats in some commercial advertisements, which have long been a source of complaints:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20985528
“When Northern Ireland is excluded from the rest of the UK”
That’s from 2013 and so nothing to do with Brexit, but it should really be updated to try to encompass all of the relevant adverse effects of Boris Johnson’s capitulation to the EU, as approved by Tory MPs.
Regarding which, here are some more threats from Brussels/Dublin:
https://www.independent.ie/business/brexit/uk-playing-a-very-dangerous-game-by-inflaming-tensions-over-brexit-warns-eu-commissioner-mairead-mcguinness-40504158.html
“UK âplaying a very dangerous gameâ by inflaming tensions over Brexit, warns EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness”
“The EU has lashed out at the UK for âbatteringâ the Brexit deal, threatening to take action if London doesnât get on board with the Northern Ireland Protocol.”
“The 2019 Brexit deal and the recently approved trade agreement with the UK allows either side to suspend market access if the treaties are being breached.”
I think somebody important, somebody like a Tory MP, should be asking the government to tell us honestly whether in this case “suspend market access” would mean a complete block on imports from the UK, or just the imposition of tariffs and additional non-tariff barriers.
June 5, 2021
Denis
Indeed- I remember said commissioner saying on TV “.. get used to the new reality …”
As one Martin Selmayr once said âThe price the UK would have to pay would be the loss of Northern Irelandâ.
So the EU are adamant that’s way it’s going to be.
This is not leaving having our country divided with the EU on our soil.
June 5, 2021
Itâs good to know that you support the farming industry (donât forget Horticulture)
The EU did an excellent job in supporting farming for now this is lost.
So the Gov needs to have support schemes in place for food production.
DEFA need to revamp its web site as it looks old and tired.
There is still plenty of brown field sites for housing especially as I champion more apartments. There are former quarry sites that can be used. Itâs too easy just to build on arable green land.
In inner city areas there is the early signs of evolving High Streets into a mix of ships and apartments as more shopping activity moves on line.
So overall the pressure to build on arable green land should be resisted. Iâm also concerned about the knock on effect of barn conversion, because this some times is an excuse to develop the wider area.
Barn conversions are ok but not if it leads to more development around that encroach on arable green land.
Once farm land is developed itâs gone and itâs an easy option.
June 5, 2021
“Itâs good to know that you support the farming industry (donât forget Horticulture) The EU did an excellent job in supporting farming for now this is lost.”
How ironically Incorrect, the EEC/EU did massive damage to UK farming, never mind Horticulture! In my own area we used to have huge numbers of green houses growing cut-flowers etc, we also has apple orchards and the like, all now gone, same happened in East Anglia. Spalding for example was a centre for such trade and traffic, most of it also gone, replaced by cut flowers from the Netherlands…
June 5, 2021
Jerry, try telling MIC that. He doesn’t understand. Bless.
June 5, 2021
Secondary Modern schools used to have Horticulture as subject.
How much wiser people were before wokeness took over!
June 5, 2021
Bl*********dy iPad.
…as a subject.
June 5, 2021
@EH; Yes, and Secondary Modern schools along with the earlier Comprehensives that followed often went one better, often having their own growing beds for veg and flowers, they also did a very good job teaching the basic fundamentals of many a trade, as either part of the curriculum or as subsidised after school clubs – then came the ‘wokeness’ of the Education Reform Act 1988 with its “Key Stages” that do not allow enough flexibility.
June 5, 2021
+1
June 6, 2021
Jerry did you go to a Secondary Modern School?
June 5, 2021
Ships should read shops – my iPhone has a habit of spell check and I probably click send too quick without double checking
June 5, 2021
Defra
The urgency of this project cannot be understated, there are farmers who have been severely weakened by our membership of the EU and their love of their industry that most were born into has been questioned to the point that the land that they own is being placed up for sale, and the most prominent buyers, like vultures circling over a dying man, are the big house building companies to build crammed together housing estates causing more environmental problems for the future generations.
The ministers given the post by this government to oversee the future of British Agriculture/Fish farming are, based on their history ideal candidates. They have a very important project to undertake. Their actions now will not be seen for many years but our future is in their hands, I wish them good judgement on the decisions they make.
June 5, 2021
Could kit be that there are no farming initiatives due to the “level playing field” that we are handcuffed to Sir John.
This stricture is the handcuff that keeps us bound to the EU and unable to use our freedoms.
June 5, 2021
Good try SirJ but nothing has nor will change anytime soon. Under Boris government we have agreed not to alter our âfisheriesâ for 5 years, and the terms of the WA & NI restrict us under the clause of âlevel playing fieldââŠ.another words Brino
I donât expect Defra to change at all under this government
June 5, 2021
Glen Cullen
Weâve been well and truly sold out big time
Johnson could have just walked away and gone with the WTO option but No, he just kept going back thus sending a clear message to the EU so we now have BRINO with a border down the Irish Sea
June 5, 2021
Youâve got to wonder when German supermarkets are now reporting that 75% of the Food products sold are now British and I read they are supporting British farmers with advertisements on tv just why British owned supermarkets are behind this curve. These German supermarkets are also top in price comparison websites and Which. There is something rotten at the heart of British supermarkets and if theyâre not careful these German owned supermarkets will squash them with their plans for 500 more stores selling all sorts to put more local businesses out of action with their bigger and bigger price push discounting and none food products from China and low cost supply areas.
Fascinating subject that Iâve never taken an interest in. I just read that 76,396 farms were paid more than ÂŁ10,000 in subsidies by DEFRA in 2020 on the Defra website. The average pay out subsidy to those 76,396 farms is ÂŁ45,591. What do the public get back for this? What is expected for the subsidy? Who checks they do what is required? I wonder what these farms produced last year and were they sold in Britain at profit or not?
ÂŁ3,482,997,675.75 was paid out in one year!
If you are a young farmer you get more (possibly to encourage parents to pass the farm down sooner).
DEFRA paid the Welsh Assembly ÂŁ10, 854,788.96 in a subsidy – for what?
June 5, 2021
Why should anyone be surprised DEFRA are slow in getting things done? They are a department used to doing what the EU tells them, without the ability to think for themselves. You won’t get initiative just like that; it has to be grown over time (from where, I have no idea). I expect they are fully up to date with diversity training, so got it where it counts.
I wouldn’t expect anything from the government. Farming is just something to talk about. They would rather import cheap food, and place housing estates over the entire countryside, with the prospect the occupants will be working in the far higher tax revenue financial services.
Best just to pay the farmers to make the countryside look pretty for the tourists.
June 5, 2021
I do not know how the likes of JR and others ( maybe) can bear to stand by and watch all this shilly shallying, sulky foot dragging.
When ministers were forced to accept surrender to the EU ( or whatever it called itself then), they did so with ( far too much) good grace. Embraced it with passion even.
Now the boot is on the other foot…no such cooperation!
But then, the Left never plays fair.
June 5, 2021
Can I ask what DEFRA is doing about this looming problem:
We may not have empty shelves yet, but it would be good to know that DEFRA are aware even of this issue.
https://electroverse.net/historic-frosts-and-freezes-impact-farmers-across-the-northern-hemisphere/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-last-newsletter-total-posts-from-our-blog_1
June 5, 2021
OFF TOPIC.
I’m back here complaining about the almost non-existent Library service in the Borough.
All Libraries were closed for months, 22 staff redeployed. Then grudgingly Wokingham, Woodley and Lower Earley were opened on limited days with limited hours each time. The other 6 or 8 have not re-opened at all.
Notice has now been given that at a minimum the next 2 Saturday openings have been stopped to support ‘Surge Testing’. This service is paid for in Council Tax, I want a refund. Couldn’t other staff be diverted to assist the testing? Car park and street wardens for instance?
June 5, 2021
Libraries serve a vital function – In this area libraries are almost back to normal, book browsing, PC usage and so on.
It’s not so difficult.
June 5, 2021
I think lots of councils have returned Libraries to their social and education purpose.
Our councillors clearly don’t think they are needed, yet Social Services bills have gone through the roof.
June 6, 2021
I dont know Bryan if libraries are still relevant and so âvitalâ if they can close them for 15 months!
June 5, 2021
A good post Sir John.
You have highlighted how EU agriculture is subsidised by the CAP. This a state subsidy and we face a stark choice.
Either, we match the subsidy and create potential difficulties with our non EU trading partners or, we withdraw from TACA and move to WTO Rules.
It goes without saying that I think we should force a more reasonable approach to the NI Protocol by the EU or scrap it altogether. If it was up to me, I would choose the latter option in both issues.
June 5, 2021
I think this may fall within DEFRA’s remit:
https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0604/1226148-tony-connelly-analysis/
“While the movements of pets did not hit the headlines when the Protocol was being negotiated, the question of whether dogs should need a rabies-free certificate when crossing the Irish Sea has suddenly become an iconic one for the UK and unionists.
Under EU rules, domestic pets can move freely across EU borders since member states (as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) enjoy a “Part One” listing, meaning they are deemed rabies-free.
Countries outside that sphere (including the UK) are given a “Part Two” listing, meaning a rabies-free certificate is required. Some countries are not listed at all.
UK officials insist that the EU cannot seriously believe that rabies will enter the UK, make its way to Northern Ireland, and from there spread into the Republic and beyond to the rest of the EU.
For the EU, the reason it knows Europe will remain rabies-free is that each member state agrees to uniform rules.”
Well, what a lovely mess that Great Charlatan Boris Johnson has inflicted on us, apparently for the sake of his pathetically low value “Canada style” free trade deal, and with the assistance of Tory MPs both Leavers and Remainers, so what are those responsible going to do about it?
June 5, 2021
The problem with DEFRA must be at the top; its Remain attitide can only survive because the responsible Minister, Mr Eustice, allows it to. Perhaps he was promoting so called Leaver sympathies simply to get himself into office?
June 5, 2021
Why doesnât Johnson appoint you as a special minister to run DEFRA?
It would be nice to see something get done. As you said, it is environmental vandalism to import food from thousands of miles away that could be grown here.
June 5, 2021
From todays Telegraph
“The RAFâs new battlefield drone could be used to search for migrants crossing the Channel under plans being considered by ministers.” … and?
This seems to be virtual signalling about nothing.. In practice once the illegals are spotted they are then brought into the UK an housed. The UK taxpayer then spends a fortune on their legal fees, because their treatment is not up to the standard that criminals would expect – then nothing.
Until they are actual sent home, and they can tell the story of the smugglers being ‘con’ men they will just keep coming.
All the time we keep allowing the smugglers to profit from this venture we are blocking entry to Asylum Seekers that have a genuine need
June 5, 2021
Elsewhere in the same paper – “Border Force cutter Valiant allegedly entered French waters to pick up migrants who were not in danger but only going slowly “
The taxpayer as is acting as the paymaster to illegal criminals, and it appears to be Government Policy.
The UK taxpayer who gets caught speeding is given harsher treatment than these illegals’
June 5, 2021
It doesn’t make sense for less food to be grown – especially when the population is growing (against the wishes of the electorate) I worry that the plan is for depopulation by foul means
June 5, 2021
My Apologies Sir John, but some announcements are so dumb
From the BBC –“The G7 group of advance economies has reached a “historic” deal on taxing multi-national companies, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak says. “
CT is a tax on profits! as simple as that, No profit in the domain you earn from, because of your management fees to tax free zones still means no CT tax is paid. So the G7 Nations have signed up to nothing just so they can demonstrate to their taxpayers intent.
2 days of talks achieving nothing that didn’t already exist.
My apologies once more Sir John.
June 5, 2021
nota# Youâre correct, the G7 talks where never about standardisation of tax revenue nor its actually collection across nations, its about virtue signallingâŠ.Iâd question why it continues
June 5, 2021
These are indeed serious concerns. What did George Eustice say when you raised the matter with him?
What did the PM say about it?
I assume you can talk to them with such concerns – after all, what would be the point in being a Conservative MP if you couldn’t do that?
N.B. Mr Eustice is reportedly a remainer who thinks he represents farming’s interests by advocating EU policies and harmful subsidies, so you may only gain any traction here by making the PM aware of the issue.
June 5, 2021
“The government has promised new schemes to stimulate innovation, investment and promotion of more U.K. food. I wish it would get on with them. We need to promote our farms and food now. There is no good reason for delay. ”
But that is the problem with EVERY area of government business. It’s all promises and NEVER, ever, any delivery. Just look at any policy area from tackling illegal migrants and bogus refugees to relaxing the rules on CRISPR, from pumping in state aid to boost British manufacturing to resolving the problems caused by the NI Protocol, from increasing our fishing catch and processing to liberalising our financial services regulations.
The government is doing NOTHING. So you have to ask “why?”. And there are only two possible answers: (i) grotesque, off-the-scale, incompetence and stupidity (which makes them unelectable); or (ii) *deliberate* inaction, resulting from a treasonous desire to placate our foreign enemies rather than promote our own country (which again makes them unelectable). Do you understand now why I am an ex-Tory and can no longer support this government in any election?
June 5, 2021
As has been touched on above. Those in DEFRA who thought being in the EU was a good thing are still there. Those who didn’t think it was such a good idea and who thought they could make a difference became frustrated and left.
In industry, any organisation that fails to adapt to a change of circumstances quickly goes out of business. Sadly, that is not the case with the civil service and unless there are some real incentives to motivate them to change their way of thinking this will take some time.
This is highlighted by the success of the Department for International Trade. Liz Truss’ team is relatively new, but motivated by a can do attitude. DEFRA is the opposite and is unmotivated by the cannot do attitude.
June 5, 2021
Just notice that the 2500 offshore wind turbines off my coast where today âstillâ as there isnât any wind âŠ..thank the lord for nuclear and coal
June 5, 2021
I hope nobody is charging their Teslas…
June 5, 2021
You mention Farms again John – so I will ask the same points – -Where are all the houses going to go to house Africa and Asia – and the 5m+ from Hong Kong? on Farmable land.- We are an island – already overcrowded. When are we going to be genocided to make way for all the immigrants – AND the farms? You could at least have the decency to tell us what date our deaths are planned for.
June 5, 2021
Listening to Border Force audio recording today I understand that its now (and has probably always been) the governments policy to accelerate and assist the illegal immigrants crossing the channel
There can be no other answer, the skipper of the border force cutter wouldnât have carried out his incursion into French territorial waters without a policy and authorisation
June 5, 2021
Time for Defra to use our freedom from the EU . . . . .etc.
Yes I’m sure you are right Sir John.
Please put a rocket up their you know what.
Environment friendly schemes? ‘Re wilding? What sort of nonsense is that?
Surely it is obvious to any one with a little bit of brain, that producing as much as possible of our own food is the most environmentally friendly policy.
Added to which, since the EU have now shown themselves more like a ‘hostile power’ than our ‘friends’ in many ways, it is more sensible to trade (both ways) with other nations.
June 6, 2021
Dear John – Can I suggest a far better way – as proposed in this Farmer’s Weekly atricle – https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/prepare-farm-business-brexit
NZ farmers faced EU tariffs up to 300%, so the government started subsidising them heavily. Problem is when businesses get 40% of their revenues from government, they stop farming and focus on subsidies.
The NZ experiment is very clear – remove subsidies altogether, and farmers will raise their game.