Contributions
1,165 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q There was another area of the Bill that I wanted to ask your view on. It is further on—there is the clause relating to organic, principally marketing, standards. That is, in…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Fourth sitting)Q The Bill sets a different course for the future of agriculture policy, so it will be much more about payment for the delivery of public goods than arbitrary area-based…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Fourth sitting)Q We have set out in this Bill a seven-year transition for England, from 2021 to 2028. I suppose it is possible that the Scottish Government might say, “We will keep the current…13 Feb 2020HANSARD Support for Hill FarmersI congratulate the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) on securing this debate. He is a champion for hill farming areas, and hill farming is particularly…12 Feb 2020HANSARD Support for Hill FarmersIt is absolutely the case that one key priority of the future scheme and one objective set out in clause 1 of the Bill is about improving water quality. Any measures and…12 Feb 2020HANSARDUK FisheriesI begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Mrs Murray), who, as a number of hon. Members said, has been a passionate campaigner for the fishing…12 Feb 2020HANSARD Support for Hill FarmersI entirely appreciate that and I assure the hon. Gentleman that I was not going to skip over that point; I have some time left. The upland areas in particular are well placed to…12 Feb 2020HANSARD Support for Hill FarmersThe Prime Minister is also very keen that we open up new markets. There are great opportunities for our lamb sector in markets such as the middle east and the far east, including…12 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q One of the criticisms of the fruit-and-veg PO regime in particular was that, apart from being very litigious because of the way in which the legislation was drafted, support…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q Coming back to exemptions, I think most are carried forward by the Bill. Specifically on dairy contracts, for example, co-operatives were excluded from the voluntary dairy code,…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q Are you broadly content with the powers in the Bill to modify the retained EU law on producer organisations in particular? Do you support the principle of moving away from the…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q Has the NFU done any work on what a sustainable land rent is for different land types without the land tenure subsidy that we have through direct payments? Nick v on Westenholz:…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q In terms of helping new entrants and the next generation of younger farmers, what is most important for your members? Is it access to land at an affordable rent, or is it having…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q I want to turn to a different part of the Bill, chapter 2, and the provisions on fair dealing and transparency in the supply chain. Can you tell us which sectors suffer the most…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q You will be aware that clause 9 has quite a broad power giving the Government the ability to start simplifying and sorting out some of the complexity of the legacy CAP scheme,…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q You mentioned that the rationale for an area payment might be resilience or as a risk-management tool, but it is ultimately a subsidy on land tenure or land ownership, so is it…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q 39 Schedule 6 to the Bill has Northern Ireland-specific provisions, principally an ability and power to modify the legacy basic payment scheme—the common agricultural policy…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (First sitting)Q I have just a couple of further points. Mr Bowles, you are right, this is the first time that a country has put as much ambition into rewarding high animal welfare outcomes as…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Second sitting)Q I return to Mr Egan’s point about the control and enforcement regime. If you are close to the schemes, you will be aware that the introduction in the latest EU scheme of a…11 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (First sitting)Q I want to start by asking what you consider to have been the main failures and limitations of the existing direct payment scheme, the common agricultural policy. Also, what are…11 Feb 2020