Back British farming, Labour’s vegan cabinet member urged

YORKSHIRE’S AGRICULTURAL community has called upon vegan Kerry McCarthy to publicly pledge her support to British farming in one of her first moves as the new shadow secretary for environment, food and rural affairs.

Critics have cast doubt over whether the Bristol East MP, a patron of the Vegan Society who has previously spoke out against the meat, dairy and egg industries, will be able to connect with farmers.

Both the national and regional branch of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) are appealing to Ms McCarthy to recognise the importance of the industry as she begins in her role under the newly-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The decision to make the 50-year-old former lawyer the shadow secretary of state for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been viewed as one of the more controversial taken by Mr Corbyn since taking office. A former lawyer, Ms McCarthy refuses to eat or use animal products, including dairy and leather.

She has campaigned against the use of antibiotics and pesticides in farming and the use of cages and crates to house farm animals and opposes the badger cull. Other causes she has championed in the past include the drive to reduce global consumption of meat, citing the level of emissions from the livestock sector.

Richard Pearson, regional director for the NFU, said: “We would like Ms McCarthy to pledge her support to the NFU’s Back British Farming campaign. We look forward to discussing the development of a national food strategy and the issues raised in Jeremy Corbyn’s recent Rural Renewal report with her.”

Mr Pearson has also extend an invitation to Ms McCarthy to at- tend the NFU’s fringe event at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton later this month.

“We hope to work closely and productively with Ms McCarthy to demonstrate our key asks of present and future Government.” Mr Pearson told The Yorkshire Post.

“The food and farming industry employs more than 3.8 million people and agriculture contributed nearly £10bn to the economy between 2008 and 2014. These are just two statistics which highlight the importance of backing British farming.”

The Countryside Alliance is among those who have expressed reservations over the extent to which Ms McCarthy’s opinions could influence party policy, despite her assurances that “my personal views are my personal views”.

Ms McCarthy’s new job means she can no longer chair Parliament’s All-Party Agroecology Group, which advocates a move to more ‘sustainable’ farming methods. She took to Twitter to express her sadness at stepping down yesterday.

Party insiders have predicted that Mr Corbyn’s ally will “relish” the task of taking on the Conservatives’ current Defra Secretary of State, Liz Truss. While she is yet to react publicly to the appointment of her new opponent, other political rivals have been more vocal.

Stuart Agnew, a Ukip Member of European Parliament and the party’s agriculture spokesman, said “Only Jeremy Corbyn could select a vegan as the shadow secretary of state for DEFRA.

“Kerry McCarthy will have little in common with either the producers or consumers of food.”

Only Jeremy Corbyn could select a vegan as shadow secretary Ukip’s agriculture spokesman Stuart Agnew