Our leaders need a French lesson in policy-making

Comment Andrew Arbuckle

My early connections with France did not get off to a good start. As a schoolboy tackling the language, I stumbled over seemingly endless irregularities in the grammar. I did once surprise my classmates by providing a speedy translation of The Three Musketeers. I was fairly skelping along until the teacher found I had an English edition of the book on my knees; a different skelping then ensued.

Despite that setback, I have come to appreciate the French, their society and their economy, which they still maintain as largely agrarian.

You do not have to go far off a motorway in France to find villages with complete sets of shops supplying local needs sitting beside eating establishments serving up local delicacies.

The farming industry is still important in France and woe betide any politician who tries to upset the farmers’ apple cart. There are few other countries in the world that can match French farmers when they have a grievance.

Blockades on motorways or in Paris are meat and drink to those who make a living from the land if they feel their livelihoods are threatened.

What is painfully striking from this side of the Channel, where the UK Government has opted to forsake the farming industry, is the strength of political leadership French farmers have nurtured. This past week has seen French and Irish politicians voice strong opposition to a proposed trade deal with South American countries lumped together 0 Motorway blockades are a common tactic adopted by French farmers when their livelihoods are threatened under the Mercosur banner. Thiswouldgive more access to thousands of tonnes of beef from the southern continent into Europe.

Horrified by what this might do to the domestic trade, French president Emmanuel Macron is reported to have banged the table at the EU summit and said, “Non, non absolutement non”.

Compare this with the craven approach to trade deals taken by UK minister Liam Fox, who in his determination to get a US-UK deal seems to be prepared to allow chicken washed in chlorine to be part of the import package for this country.

Macron’s stout defence of his primary producers made me ask when was the last time a UK Prime Minister had defended farming in this country. It could be argued that Tony Blair did so during the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak, pouring billions into controlling the crisis, but that was reactive and not pro-active.

Beyond that you might have to go back to Margaret Thatcher’s minister of agriculture, Peter Walker, who produced a paper called Food From our Own Resources. This aimed to reverse a decline in the UK’S self-sufficiency in food production and if we had politicians with backbone or foresight, a similar policy paper might fit present needs where food imports and prices are set to rise substantially.

Back in France, Macron has also announced moves to rebalance the rewards from the food chain. Speaking at the giant Rungis food market in Paris, he said he wanted to stop supermarkets having price wars where the main economic casualties were farmers.

Decrees, Macron added, would be set out early next year based on farmers getting paid on the costs of production as opposed to taking prices offered by the big retailers.

In the UK, we have the Groceries Code Adjudicator to curb the worst excesses of supermarket power. Some might argue that while it does inhibit the big retailers, the core problem of inequality in the food chain is beyond its remit.

The French proposal appears to be more radical, far-reaching and should have more chance of success, especially when backed up by Macron’s promise that the State would have enough sanctions and controls to ensure the new laws will be effective.

In farming terms, the UK is on the cusp of a change in policy and yet not one political leader has even whispered their thoughts on how the countryside should look. Nor have any of the home-grown political pygmies offered any policy for feeding the country in the years to come.