Bromsgrove MP Bradley Thomas writes for the Standard in his Westminster Diary.
RIGHT now, food which displays the Union Flag or claims it is ‘Made in Britain’ does not actually need to be from the UK.
Shockingly, food grown overseas yet merely assembled or packaged here can fly the flag or be described as ‘British.’ That’s absurd.
I will support measures in Parliament to close the flag loophole and make food origin labelling clearer so we can be sure that we are buying British food which is actually grown and produced in our country. Food should be what it says on the label.
This is all part of the work I’m doing to back British farmers.
Contrast that to the Prime Minister who looked farmers in the eye before the election and promised he would protect their way of life, but because he entered office without a plan, his Government is now conducting an assault on our rural life in Bromsgrove and across the country.
The Government has introduced the Family Farm Tax and is making the wrong decisions on farming funding that impacts farmers’ ability to plan for the future.
I recognise the importance of supporting our farming communities which is why I’ve consistently voted against the Family Farm Tax in Parliament.
This tax will affect 248 farms across Bromsgrove district, devastating our farming community as we know it.
Not only will taxing family farms not generate the revenue the Government thinks it will, stopping farms from being passed to the next generation threatens our food security, risks jobs and will ultimately lead to food prices rising.
I will continue to call on the Government to scrap the Family Farm Tax and the Family Business Tax and instead support British farmers.
The Government’s partial U-turn is not enough. The whole tax needs to be axed.
