Lamb industry warns PM to stop ‘Russian Roulette’

While the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson managed to give the farming industry a body swerve on his visit to Scotland on Monday, there was no shortage of contact with the sector on his visit to Wales yesterday.

The warning from one Welsh farmer to “stop playing Russian Roulette” with the lamb industry over the threat of a no-deal Brexit was reinforced by Welsh First minister, mark drake ford who told Johnson that a no deal Brexit would be “catastrophic for Wales”.

The meeting came only days after Welsh farmers had indicated that they would not take the destruction of their lamb industry – which would face skyhigh tariffs under a no deal scenario, effectively rendering export to Europe unviable – lying down, with calls for civil unrest and direct action being voiced.

“If the farming community have their backs against the wall, the only way they’re going to get from there is fighting their way through,” FUW President Glyn Roberts was quoted as saying after the recent Welsh Show.

Ahead of his visit to Wales, the prime minister said he would “always back Britain’s great farmers” – adding that as the UK left the EU it was crucial to make sure that Brexit worked for the sector:

“Once we leave the EU on 31 October, we will have a historic opportunity to introduce new schemes to support farming – and we will make sure that farmers get a better deal.”

The National Sheep Association also added its voice to the clamour warning against exiting with a no deal. Chief executive, Phil Stocker said that his organisation had been hugely alarmed by the rhetoric of Mr Johnson and his new cabinet in recent days about leaving in October:

“Such a scenario would be disastrous for our industry at any time, but late October is when a huge peak of UK lamb will be reaching the market.”