He writes:
In political lobbying it is vital to be on the front foot, to 'be there' and 'get in early'. This was the first lesson I was taught when I joined the NFU parliamentary team back in 2005.
Despite the short notice and busy diaries, we had a great turnout for our MP event, held in the first available slot after their return to Parliament after the EU Referendum. More than 50 MPs and Peers from Conservatives, Crossbencher Lords, DUP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and the SNP; including the last two Defra Secretaries of State, former Defra Ministers and current Shadow Defra team members for Labour, Liberal Democrats and SNP joined the event on July 5.
With such political turmoil surrounding Westminster our job is to break through the noise and demonstrate the importance of UK agriculture. In a post-Brexit world there is no escaping the urgent need to plan and shape the future of a new domestic agricultural policy. With farming growing the raw ingredients which supplies one of the largest manufacturing sectors – food and drink – worth some £108 billion pounds, and supporting jobs for more than 3.9 million people, MPs were asked to pledge their support for farming.
With 40 of the MPs and Lords at the event signing their support my focus now is to embark on the important job of reaching out to those unable to attend; whether it be in parliament, on farm over the summer, or at the NFU fringe events at the autumn political party conferences.
Working with our strong membership, representing more than 47,000 farming businesses, we will work over the coming weeks and months to challenge MPs to do four things:
- Sign our Back British Farming pledge.
- Meet farmers and food processors in their constituency, especially on farm where they can see the job at hand.
- Carry on the important work of the day on issues such as animal and plant health, BPS, broadband, and the Grocery Code.
- Help create a cross-party consensus to support a new, invigorated domestic agricultural policy, to match the scale of vision seen in 1947.
