Farm leaders hold talks with Treasury

Farming leaders have met Treasury officials to make their case for the agricultural industry.

The farming leaders of NFU Scotland and NFU England and Wales met Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander MP in London on Wednesday (28 July).

They went to discuss the central role that rural businesses continue to play in the nation’s economic recovery and to hear first hand about the scale of budgetary cuts and how these are likely to affect DEFRA and its operations.
 
Speaking after the meeting, NFU Scotland President Jim McLaren said it was reassuring that the door of the Treasury remained open to the farming industry despite the general gloom and doom. 
 
“The agricultural sector is not immune from the impact that the Treasury-led budgetary cuts will have on all industries but this meeting allowed us to investigate if all opportunities to either stimulate farming businesses or strip out unnecessary costs or damaging taxation are being explored.”

NFU President Peter Kendall said he had stressed to Mr Alexander how farming should be at the heart of the challenge.

“We’re part of the biggest manufacturing sector in the UK – worth £22bn a year – and are determined to play our part in the economic recovery. Key to that, though, is having a policy and tax framework that enables us to compete, to make profits and to invest for the long term.”