West Somerset MP says farmers will have 'huge opportunities' once they are free from EU 'shackles'

Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger
Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger

An MP has said farmers will have 'huge opportunities' once they are free from the 'shackles' of the EU.

Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said farmers and growers must make their voices heard as the UK approaches Brexit.

He said MPs needed to understand the needs of the farming community and act on them, in particular farmers' concerns about Government financial support once the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said UK farming had an ‘enormous’ potential to grow and diversify once it was free to do so without 'bureaucratic interference'.

“The one great thing Brexit will give us will be the ability to sing the praises of our food and drink as among the finest in the world without being told we’re not allowed to,” he told the Bridgwater Mecury.

“We have fantastic opportunities ahead to market and export, to produce more flexibly so we provide the country with more of the food it needs when it needs it – and to create a far more exciting, dynamic and successful farming sector that we have seen for at least two generations.

“Farmers, not politicians or civil servants, are the real experts in agricultural matters and their views count.

“One of the most alarming statements I have heard in recent days is the assertion that the supermarket price war will continue to deliver cheap food to the British consumer – because that ignores the fact that the price war has driven many farmers out of business and is threatening to do the same to many more.

Mr Liddell-Grainger concluded: “Whatever means it takes, whether public meetings or petitions, or poster campaigns, the needs of the industry must be laid out and made clear so they can be taken into consideration as we map the future for one of the world’s great farming sectors.”