Letter to my MP

Dear Mr Pursglove

 

May I please wish you a happy new year?

As you may remember, you and I differ on our views on Brexit – I am still in a slightly depressed mood because of the result of the referendum.  However, I have spotted a silver lining and I thought I would write to you on that account.

Like most environmentalists, I was rather keen on the EU but we all have to accept that Brexit means Brexit. I hope that Brexit means a much better and fairer system of agricultural support to landowners from taxpayers like myself.  The wasteful state of Common Agricultural Policy spending was partly the fault of the EU but very largely the fault of successive UK governments and devolved administrations. Now that we are heading for Brexit we can design our own system of agricultural support that delivers support where it is needed to the farming industry, fairness to consumers and taxpayers, and intervenes to correct the fact that markets are poor at delivering environmental public goods.

Last week the Minister of State at Defra, George Eustice MP was reported as telling the Oxford Farming Conference that this government would move away from the current system of untargetted income support which rewards ‘slipper farmers’ who receive money for running grouse shoots and other activities without actually farming (The Times, 5 January 2017, page 9).

Such a move, where upland land owners would be rewarded for flood alleviation measures, carbon storage and supplying clean water, as part of wider policy changes, would be very sensible and a great achievement for this government if it were pursued.

I’m well aware that ministers do occasionally fly kites to see how and whether they fly, so please forward this letter to Mr Eustice to show that there is at least one voter in a marginal constituency who would be rather impressed if he were to progress in this direction? Thank you.

I’d also be interested to hear your own views on whether a move from untargetted handouts to farmers and towards rewards for environmental services, would get your support? Here in the Nene Valley paying farmers for measures which reduce flood risk might find a place in future agricultural support, don’t you think?

Yours sincerely

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