This in from Helen Symes from the Country Land and Business Association. Ed
The CLA is warning of risks to rural jobs and investment in the South East’s rural economy, if Ministers fail to plan for Brexit.
In a report published this week, the CLA which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses says politicians must give commitments to farmers and rural businesses that they are equally prepared, whatever the result of the Referendum on 23 June.
No ‘Plan B’ for farming
The document, ‘Leave or Remain: the Decisions Politicians Must Make to Support the Rural Economy’ comes in the wake of recent statements from Ministers that there is no ‘Plan B’ for farming in development for the event that the UK votes to leave.
CLA South East Regional Director Robin Edwards says:
“If the UK votes to leave, there are immediate commitments that will need to be made by Government to ensure the continued health of farming and the wider rural economy. The Government may not wish to reveal its plans before polling day, but it is critical to know that the right plans are being formed. Failure to plan for Brexit will put rural jobs and investment in the rural economy at serious risk and we cannot leave plans that are this important to chance.”
The critical issues
The CLA report sets out the critical issues for the rural economy that Government should be planning for, whatever the outcome of the Referendum, including direct payments to the agricultural sector, trade, regulation and the labour market.
Robin Edwards comments:
“Whatever your views on the future of the UK’s relationship with the EU, it is clear that Europe is an important market for our products, the EU manages vital direct land management payments to farmers, and workers from the EU are critical to our agricultural labour force. For more than 40 years the EU has provided the regulatory framework that governs the environment, trading relationships and the way businesses operate, and is the basis of significant investment decisions.”
He adds:
“If the UK votes to leave, Ministers must start negotiations immediately to secure tariff free access to the EU for UK agricultural and other products and have a plan in place that gives agriculture continued access to the labour it needs.”
Payments budgeted until 2020
Farmers have budgeted for their businesses to receive land management payments through to the end of 2020.
If the UK votes to leave, Ministers will also need to confirm they will develop a ‘UK Agricultural Policy’ that ensures the necessary investment in farming and land management continues outside the Common Agricultural Policy, up to 2020 and beyond.
Robin Edwards comments:
“Currently almost £4bn a year is invested via the EU into supporting sustainable agriculture, environmental management and the wider rural economy. New research in the CLA report shows that the economic multiplier benefit for the UK economy is £10billion, and that it sustains over 370,000 jobs – equivalent to around 10 percent of the total rural workforce. That investment must continue whether we are in or out of the EU. If there is a vote to leave, Ministers will need to give reassurances or it will fuel uncertainties and compound the wider crisis we are facing across our farming sector.”
Setting out the timeframes
The CLA report does not advocate a position on whether the UK should leave or remain in the EU, but sets out what Ministers must decide and the timeframes in which they must be made, whatever the outcome of the Referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.
Robin Edwards adds:
“We are ready to defend our members’ interests whatever the outcome of the vote. If the UK votes to leave, the uncertainties for farming and other rural businesses are immediate. If we vote to remain, there are still critical commitments that Ministers will need to make. Whether it is Plan A or Plan B the CLA will be playing a leading role in planning for the future of agriculture and the rural economy.”
