‘Stop killing farming’: Farmers gear up for Westminster demo  

As many as 100 tractors and farm vehicles will rally round Westminster tonight (Monday 25 March), with farmers bringing a unified message to MPs and civil servants – stop killing farming.

Fairness for Farmers of Kent and Save British Farming (SBF) have partnered to bring the countryside to London for the a tractor demo for “the urgent need to protect food security, which is underpinned by our great British farming system”.

Tractors and farm vehicles from Leicester, Billinghurst, West Sussex, Land Rovers from Lincolnshire and farmers from Northern Ireland are travelling to the capital to take part in the rally.

See also: MPs slammed for dismal turnout at food security debate

Geoffrey Philpott, a cauliflower farmer in east Kent, is taking three tractors to the rally.

He said: “I hope MPs and civil servants wake up quickly and support British agriculture so I can continue to farm for many years to come and supply healthy, safe produce for UK people.”

Together, the farmers have three main demands of government, opposition MPs and the civil service:

1. Ban substandard food imports which are flooding the UK market due to “inadequate” import controls and bad Brexit/World Trade Organization trade deals
2. Ban dishonest food labelling – currently, imported food can be labelled with a Union flag if it us processed and packed here
3. Government must protect food security by launching a national food plan and ditching bad trade deals.

For the third demand, the group is calling on the government to stop the UK’s accession the trans-Pacific trade deal, known as the CPTPP, amid concerns this will see harmonisation of regulations that will lead to hormone-fed beef imports, which will be “cataclysmic” for British livestock farming.

SBF founder and rally organiser Liz Webster told Farmers Weekly: “The government promised that taking back control would deliver a golden era for British farming.

“In truth, British farmers are being pushed to extinction. If we don’t rise up and fight back, we will become reliant on imported foods, which leave us open to being held to ransom by other countries – a decision that none of us should feel comfortable with.”

SBF, in conjunction with the think tank Open Britain, has launched an online petition urging political action to protect British farmers and food standards.

They have also launched a CrowdFunder to raise funds for this and future farmer rallies. Anyone who wants to get involved is asked to email savebritishfarming@gmail.com.