UK political parties must focus on delivering a successful Brexit rather than being preoccupied by infighting, tenant farmers have said.
The Tenant Farmers Association's (TFA) chief executive George Dunn said the general election was 'unnecessary' and an 'unhelpful distraction' from work that was beginning to gather pace to secure Britain's future.
"Having served notice of our departure from the EU at the end of March, we really do need to be using all the time at our disposal to negotiate our exit and put in place the necessary policies, governing structures, statues and frameworks required for beyond March 2019," he said.
"With effectively nothing achieved towards these goals in the past seven weeks during the election campaign, we cannot afford to waste any further time either from political parties squabbling between themselves or through self-inflicted bloodletting in internecine struggles.
"For such a time as this there is too much at stake for such luxuries."
Challenges
The TFA has also welcomed the appointment of Michael Gove as the new DEFRA Secretary of State.
The TFA's National Chairman, James Gray, has written to Mr Gove to welcome him to his new position and to seek an early meeting to discuss the priorities for agriculture and its tenanted sector in the context of Brexit.
"The Prime Minister has placed a political heavyweight and prominent Brexiter in DEFRA and we look forward to working with Michael Gove in the weeks and months ahead.
"It will be important that he gets up to speed quickly on the challenges faced by the agricultural industry and its determination to play its part in securing a successful future for Britain after we have left the EU.
"He would do well to start his briefing by taking some time to attend the Cereals Event which takes place this week in Lincolnshire. We would be delighted to welcome him onto our stand for an early discussion," said Mr Dunn.
