Contributions
1,165 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTopical QuestionsOur Agriculture Bill has an entire section on fairness in the supply chain, enabling us to introduce regulations that build on what we have started with the Groceries Code…06 Feb 2020HANSARDSmall and Medium-sized Food ProducersThe Secretary of State holds regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the Government’s work to help small and medium- sized enterprises. Food and drink is the UK’s largest…06 Feb 2020HANSARDSmall and Medium-sized Food ProducersMy hon. Friend makes an important point. Every Member will have examples of successful local food manufacturers. In her constituency, we have of course Samworth Brothers, a highly…06 Feb 2020HANSARDSmall and Medium-sized Food ProducersI hold regular meetings with the shellfish industry. As the hon. Gentleman will know, my constituency is in Cornwall, where we have a large crab and scallop industry. The…06 Feb 2020HANSARDSmall and Medium-sized Food ProducersI very much enjoyed my visit to the seafood village in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I look forward to visiting that area and Grimsby more generally again in the future. Our…06 Feb 2020HANSARDTopical QuestionsThere are already laws and regulations in place to protect animals used by buskers. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is a criminal offence to cause unnecessary suffering to…06 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillI will not give way as I want to cover as many of the issues raised by hon. Members as possible. My hon. Friend the new Member for Rushcliffe (Ruth Edwards) talked about the…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillIt is a real pleasure to close this debate. This is the second time that I have taken this Bill—or a similar version of it—through Parliament for Second Reading within the last…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Bovine TB: CompensationDisease control and dealing with epidemiological outbreaks, including TB, are devolved matters, so each part of the UK has a different approach. In Scotland there is not currently…29 Jan 2020HANSARD Bovine TB: CompensationIt is a real pleasure to respond to my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas), who represents a neighbouring constituency. I am very familiar with many of the farmers…29 Jan 2020HANSARD Bovine TB: CompensationMy hon. Friend makes a very important point; none of the tests that we have are perfect. TB is a difficult, insidious and slow-moving disease that is sometimes difficult to…29 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillMy hon. Friend will remember the debate that took place in 2016. The UK has typically received back roughly half of what it put into the EU budget, and our contribution to the…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillThank you, Dame Eleanor. The Bill also covers the horizontal regulation, which governs the way paying agencies should operate; Commission delegated regulation 907/2014, which…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillYes, my hon. Friend makes a very important point. As I have said, we have a manifesto commitment to protect animal welfare and food standards in future trade deals. Moreover,…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillObviously we will work with the devolved Administrations on future funding. The Bill—in later clauses, so I will not dwell on it now—deals with recommendations for the allocation…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillThere are several important schemes, such as the Government-funded Farm Advisory Service and the various wildlife campaigns that also support farmers to farm in a more…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillYes, my hon. Friend makes a very important point. Today’s Bill simply brings across the existing schemes, including, as I have pointed out, all the so-called greening rules, all…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI thank my right hon. Friend for that comment. He and I have taken a similar view of pan-European legislation for some time, and obviously there will be many opportunities as we…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillMy hon. Friend makes an important point. All of us—officials in Whitehall, Members of this House, and indeed, generally as a country—have to get used to our freedom and to…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillMy hon. Friend makes an important point, which links to something I said earlier about the removal of the perpetual legal jeopardy that Whitehall has been subjected to while we…28 Jan 2020