Westminster 'wants nothing to do with farming any more'

THE great divide between the UK's three devolved administrations on the importance of farming has never been put in such blunt terms as it was by Frank Langrish, chairman of the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) at the organisation's annual conference in Bradford.

Langrish's essential point was that the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Westminster government could not care less about farming and that sheep farmers and livestock producers in general have no sustainable prospects in the thinking of politicians in London.

He said: "It's all part of Defra's policy to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases. The UK government believes a reduction in livestock numbers will have a marked effect on the statistics. This is the logic of the asylum, where the lunatics are now completely in charge."

Langrish, who farms sheep in Sussex, is normally relatively restrained in his comments, but he was determined to make the conference delegates aware of his concerns and frustrations.

He added: "The UK government no longer wishes to have anything more to do with agriculture; and thoughts of food security have, for the time being, disappeared."

James Withers, the deputy chief executive of NFU Scotland, while agreeing with the thrust of Langrish's comments, stressed the benefits of devolution when he spoke to The Scotsman.

He said: "We are fortunate in Scotland to have a government and a parliament which is taking food policy seriously. Obviously, we will only be able to judge a new national food policy by what it actually delivers, but the noises are encouraging.