Shadow Defra Secretary, Steve Reed shares how Labour looks to pick up rural votes in the run-up to a General Election

The Farmers Guardian Podcast

Shadow Defra Secretary Steve Reed admits previously the Labour party had lost connection with the countryside and farming communities and said he hoped to turn it around in the next General Election later this year, adding he wanted to 'give farmers their future back', recognising that Labour was started to 'get a hearing' in rural seats, but acknowledging that the job 'was not done yet'.
Mr Reed talks about his five point plans to get farming back on track including, EU veterinary agreements, public procurement, slashing planning times, a sustainable energy company GB energy and created a flood resilient taskforce. But what about budget? Mr Reed would not commit to increasing the farming budget but said the Labour party's so called 'new deal' was already fully funded and was putting 'billions of pounds' back into the bank accounts of farmers and producers.
He said a Labour Government would look to publish an impact assessment straight away to assess issues around food security and tenant farmers as a result of the new agri-schemes and believes establishing a landuse framework would be key. When it comes to bovine TB policy, Mr Reed said he would follow the Godfray review, adopting a multi-pronged approach. He committed to keeping existing badger cull licences, but said there was 'not scientific evidence' that the badger cull was effective, and a Labour Government would focus down on getting a vaccine over the line to tackle the disease.