The former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Sir Jim Paice, has described claims today that the UK farming industry would benefit from leaving the EU as “fanciful”.
Paice, one of the driving forces behind Farmers for In, was commenting following the launch of Farmers for Britain fronted by Minister of State for Farming, George Eustice, who earlier this week lauded the benefits of the single market.
During a visit to Accolade Wines on Monday, George Eustice said: “As one of the largest global importers, exporters and consumers of wine with total trade reaching £2.7 billion in 2014, the UK has become a vital trading centre for the global wine trade and a major gateway for other countries looking to access the European single market.
“It is great to see our wine entrepreneurs building the UK's reputation for world class bottling storage and distribution facilities by boosting investment, jobs and growth, helping to power our £100 billion food and drink industry.
Today he called for the British farming industry to turn its back on Europe.
Rt. Hon. Sir Jim Paice, former Minister for Agriculture and Food and a member of the Farmers for In group, said: “Farmers for Britain are painting an unbelievably rosy picture of life outside the European Union.
“We all know how much more important agriculture is to many other members of the EU and our farmers gain from that.
“The notion that walking away will give us all the beneficial terms we get now is fanciful.
“Only on Monday, George Eustice said how ‘the UK has become a vital trading centre for the global wine trade and a major gateway for other countries looking to access the European single market’.
“It is astonishing that in the same week he is leading the call for the farming industry in this country to turn its back on Europe.
“It may be that in time we can negotiate continued access, but we will still have to comply with all their regulations and maybe any more they devise.
“The idea that regulations are only because of the EU is absurd.
“Our lobby groups will still be here and in many cases are stronger domestically and our civil servants are just as inventive as those from Brussels.
"I have little doubt that if we vote to leave the UK the Basic Farm Payment will still be paid for a while, not least because we won’t actually leave overnight.
“But it won’t last long. Those supporting leave say that because of the money saved by not paying the EU, not only would farm payments be protected, but perhaps even more could be paid.
“I don’t believe that future governments will indefinitely continue to fund farming subsidies against a raft of other priorities such as the NHS, Education and Security.
“Given that the last three governments have all called for the CAP to be cut or scrapped it is not credible to argue that subsidies will last forever.
“The EU and the CAP are far from perfect but the risk to farming from being outside are immense and a gamble we cannot afford”.
