Firm rural resolve to get off on right foot

RURAL LOBBY leaders have pledged to make relationships with the new Government work in order to extract the best possible deal for British food and farming.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) warned that a hung parliament only adds to the current uncertainty facing rural businesses, but insisted that it was committed to “achieving positive outcomes” for the countryside – a sentiment echoed by the leader of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).

Ross Murray, the CLA’s president, said: “This result adds further uncertainty to a period of significant upheaval. The CLA’s top priority is the interests of the tens of thousands of farmers and other rural business owners that are getting on with their jobs today, while politicians manoeuvre and negotiate. We are ready to work with the new Government to influence the big decisions that will shape the rural economy and rural communities.

“Immediate attention will inevitably be on the implications of this result for securing a Brexit deal that will work in the longterm interests of agriculture and the wider economy. We remain confident that the right deal can be done.”

NFU president Meurig Raymond said he will seek early meetings with Ministers, adding: “The NFU is committed to start working with whoever forms the new Government to ensure all areas of Whitehall understand and value the importance of British food and farming.

“If the formal Brexit negotiations begin as planned we will continue to push for the right post-Brexit trade deal, regulatory framework, a domestic agricultural policy suited to Britain,” he said.