15 Labour manifesto pledges for British farmers
© Ian Hinchliffe/LNP/REX-Shutterstock Jeremy Corbyn has launched Labour’s manifesto, including a pledge to protect UK farmers from cheap food imports.
The document was launched by the Labour leader on Tuesday (16 May).
“Only a Labour government will prioritise a sustainable, long-term future for our farming, fishing and food industries,” claims the 128-page document [pdf].
The manifesto includes previously leaked promises to ban neonicotinoids as agrichemicals, end the badger cull to combat bovine tuberculosis and maintain the ban on hunting with hounds.
See also: Labour manifesto ‘pledges to ban neonicotinoids’
In total, the document contains 15 manifesto pledges which have particular relevance for agriculture.
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The manifesto promises that a Labour government will:
1. Secure continued EU market access allowing British farmers and food producers to continue to sell their products on the Continent.
2. Protect British farmers and rural economy by ensuring Britain continues to set the highest standards in food quality and welfare.
3. Not allow Brexit to be used as an excuse to undercut British farmers and flood Britain’s food chain with cheap and inferior produce.
4. Expand the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to ensure suppliers and consumers get a fair deal.
5. Reconfigure funds for farming and fishing to support smaller traders, local economies, community benefits and sustainable practices.
6. Allow EU workers employed across farming, fishing and food manufacturing to remain in the UK, and reinstate the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.
7. Reinstate the Agricultural Wages Board to underpin employment standards and wages.
8. Champion sustainable farming, food and fishing by investing in and promoting skills, technology, market access and innovation.
9. Protect bees by prohibiting neonicotinoids as soon as the UK’s EU relationship allows the government to do so.
10. Work with farmers and foresters to plant a million trees of native species to promote biodiversity and better flood management.
11. Establish a science innovation fund, working with farmers and fisheries, that will include support for our small-scale fishing fleet.
13. Promote cruelty-free animal husbandry and consult on ways to ensure better enforcement of agreed standards.
14. Cease the badger cull, which the manifesto says spreads bovine TB.
15. Maintain the bans on fox hunting, deer hunting and hare coursing.