Treasury urged to help farm businesses

BRITAIN'S farming leaders yesterday underlined the key role rural businesses would play in the economic recovery at a meeting in London with Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury.

The meeting, involving NFU Scotland president Jim McLaren and NFU England and Wales president Peter Kendall, saw the leaders renew various calls for the Treasury to help agricultural businesses.

Mr Alexander also updated them on the scale of the budget cuts facing government departments and the implication these will have on farming ministry Defra.

Mr McLaren said it was reassuring the Treasury's door remained open to the farming industry to discuss how the measures it might take may affect farming and food production.

The Scottish president again called for animal health and welfare budgets to be devolved from Whitehall to Holyrood, Cardiff and Belfast. He too raised the issue of high rural fuel prices and welcomed Mr Alexander's remarks on the possible establishment of a fuel duty regulator (FDR).

Mr McLaren added: “The prospect of a trial in rural areas of a reduced rate of fuel duty would be welcomed by all that live and work in the countryside. There is real merit in examining the options for a regulator as changes to fuel duty could make a major difference to small businesses and rural populations at a relatively low cost to the Treasury."

Mr Kendall said agriculture was a key cog in the biggest manufacturing sector left in the UK, that of food and drink and which is worth £22billion a year to the UK.

He stressed the importance of a policy and tax framework that allowed farmers to compete, to make profits and to invest for the long term.

Mr Kendall added: “We've already seen commitments that will bolster the sector's competitiveness – plans to get rid of burdensome red tape for example and the science minister stressing that research and development is at the core of getting the country back on its feet.

“But we also need the Treasury to watch for unintended consequences of tax simplification; it would be a real disincentive to investment if the farming partnerships that make up the bulk of our sector end up being disadvantaged by measures which are aimed at boosting business.”