The Conservatives chose the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) annual conference on Tuesday for Nick Herbert, DEFRA shadow secretary of state, to launch A New Age of Agriculture - the Conservative Agenda for British Farming. Herbert said the time was right to give DEFRA a renewed agriculture focus and criticised Labour for sidelining farming over the past 13 years.
He also attacked the Rural Payments Agency as “a shambles and a disgrace” and revealed that should the Conservative Party come to power later this year, the farming minister would be chairman of the agency and would bring back government accountability, reduce costs and drive performance.
Herbert also said that an industry-led review of all existing farming regulations would be introduced to reduce the burden of red tape without compromising standards.
Any changes would come at a cost though, as Herbert said that whichever government came to power, the budget deficit would have to be cut and that would mean cuts at DEFRA too.