The government has been criticised after the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) was abolished, without being put to a vote, at the House of Commons yesterday.

Back in January, trade union Unitemanaged to delay a vote on the future of the AWB after securing backing from Labour and Liberal Democrat peers, but the scheme, which protects the incomes of over 150,000 agricultural workers in both England and Wales, will now be discontinued from 1 October.

“What we have witnessed is a national disgrace and the capitulation of MPs to the interests of the big employers and the supermarkets, who want to ruthlessly drive down costs,” said Julia Long, Unite’s national officer for agriculture, who admitted the government’s decision could now prompt an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

She added: “There was not even a vote on the amendment by MPs on this vital issue which is a stain on democracy. The spectre of poverty embracing the countryside is now very real.”

Long’s anger has been shared by Mary Creagh, Labour MP for Wakefield, who said the payment scheme was 'deserving of a vote' and the government's 'incorrect decision' could usher in an era of employment tribunals and 'rural poverty' for the working class.

She explained: “Without the AWB, each farmer will have to negotiate terms and conditions annually with their staff. They will make mistakes, as employers often do. And they may end up in employment tribunals as a result.

'Many small farmers want to keep the AWB so they don’t have to become employment law specialists. They want to get on with running their business. Paradoxically, scrapping the AWB will add to small rural businesses’ regulatory burden.

However, the decision has been welcomed by the NFU, which has long lobbied against the AWB and blasted Unite in the past for ‘scare mongering’ in its persistent support of the worker payments scheme.

Describing the AWB abolition as 'necessary and correct', NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond concluded: “The NFU has consistently called for the abolition of the AWB, which has become increasingly obsolete, generating an additional administrative burden.

“In particular, forcing a one-size-fits-all approach is unquestionably out-of-step for a farming industry that has seen increasingly significant variation in fortunes across sectors and across regions.

Topics