Luke Pollard – 2021 Comments on Labour Becoming the Party of the Countryside

The comments made by Luke Pollard, the Shadow DEFRA Secretary, on 20 April 2021.

Farm payments need reform, but it is extraordinary to take a quarter of a billion pounds out of the rural economy this year alone, risking as many as 9,500 jobs and pushing family farms to the brink.

The Government needs to get a grip on this, review it, and provide the security that our rural communities desperately need as they recover and rebuild.

Labour’s Rural England Policy Review will ensure that our next manifesto provides as much hope and opportunity to rural communities as it does to those living in towns and cities.