The UK’s food and drink industry is bigger than our car and aerospace industries combined, and contributes over £28 billion a year to the economy. Including farming, the sector accounts for over 13 per cent of national employment.
For those reasons alone, Labour is clear that agriculture and food should be at the heart of Brexit negotiations; especially when more than nine out of ten seasonal pickers and packers of British soft fruit come from the European Union.
The role of seasonal workers in a successful food and farming industry is vital. But the government won’t give the commitments the industry needs that those workers will be available to them after Brexit.
That is unacceptable. We know that Brexit workforce concerns from the food and drinks industry are not speculation or scaremongering. This is a very real crisis that is happening now and is only set to get worse.
One of Labour’s key manifesto pledges is to reinstate the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme, to give the industry the certainty it needs. The Prime Minister’s limited and conditional offer to EU workers is too little, too late.
Labour has also made it clear that we will not allow Brexit to be used as an excuse to undercut our farmers and food manufacturers, and flood Britain’s food chain with cheap and inferior produce. The government must do the same. We need a commitment now that new trade deals will adhere to strict food import standards.
We know that too often it is children from poorer backgrounds who have the worst diets, and low income families who are most vulnerable to increases in food prices. Already low-paid workers are struggling to put food on the table, driven in ever-increasing numbers to food banks – the one area that is booming under this Tory government.
Labour will ensure a better deal for smaller traders throughout the entire supply chain. In government, one of my priorities as secretary of state will be to expand the powers and remit for the Groceries Code Adjudicator. We must put an end to farmers and producers being ripped off and kept in a constant state of financial uncertainty as discounts and deals for consumers are continuously shunted on to them by larger retailers.
While Theresa May’s government shoves food and farming ever further down the pecking order, it is Labour that is recognising the importance of these vital sectors during Brexit, developing an ambitious and bold vision for the future of our biggest manufacturing industry, embedded in our values, delivering for working people.
The government is sleepwalking into a bargain basement Brexit that risks undercutting our food and drinks industry, leaving food to rot in the fields, driving soaring food prices and jeopardising our nation’s food security. For Labour, that is simply not an option.
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