4 interesting farm findings from the Labour Party conference

Labour members met for their annual conference in Liverpool this week. But what did we learn about food and farming?

Labour rural election manifesto to be ‘broad brush’

Labour shadow farming minister Daniel Zeichner has said the rural offering in the party’s manifesto ahead of the next election is going to be “broad brush”.

Mr Zeichner told Farmers Weekly a new Labour government would be “mission-focused” and would look to work across department lines, as opposed to in silos.

“What I don’t think you’re going to see is lots of line-by-line detail on how we’re going to achieve things, because frankly, until we can see all the evidence for ourselves, that’s quite hard to do and I think there’s a lot we don’t yet know.”

Coffey accused of ‘weaponising’ badger cull

Defra secretary Therese Coffey has been accused of “weaponising” the badger cull by reiterating her commitment to it repeatedly at the Conservative Party conference.

At an event about why the animal welfare vote matters, Mr Zeichner said the 2018 Godfray Review commissioned by the government had shown the science was “not clear” and culling was a matter of “political judgement”.

“Some of Defra’s accounting and reporting of the statistics does not lend itself to huge confidence in the transparency of the whole process,” he added.

“They’ve got too hung up on trying to justify one solution.

“Labour’s policy has been very clear for a long time. We don’t think badger culling is the way forward, but my commitment is to make England bovine-TB free by 2038.”

Animal welfare manifesto launched

Mandatory method-of-production labelling and a commitment to phase out cages and crates on farms were just two of the promises set out in a new animal welfare manifesto launched at the conference.

The document, published by the Labour Society for Animal Welfare (Laws), with a foreword by former shadow Defra secretary and Laws president Sue Hayman, also proposed the establishment of core standards for animal welfare in international trade deals, and a ban on live exports.

It will not automatically form part of the official Labour Party manifesto ahead of the election, but is likely to influence thinking.

Labour on funding farming apprenticeships

Labour has hit out at the apprenticeship levy, claiming the party will reform it to fund specific farming and biodiversity apprenticeships to help tackle the current UK skills shortage.  

Shadow rural affairs minister Toby Perkins, speaking during a fringe event focusing on skills for nature recovery and biodiversity, said “48% of the money put into the apprenticeship levy comes back unspent”.

“Farming businesses are paying for it, but not able to use it,” he said. “That’s a criminal waste that goes unspent. It’s an opportunity for a young person that’s been denied.”