FARRON AND CAMERON TALK FARMING AT PMQS
FARRON AND CAMERON TALK FARMING AT PMQS
Posted: November 2, 2011
David Cameron insists the government is doing all it can to support the farming industry in rural areas like the Lake District.
The Prime Minister was responding to a question by the South Lakes MP, who asked what’s being done to support the industry as an increasing population means more demand for food.
During their exchange in Prime Ministers Questions this lunchtime, Tim Farron said “Mr Speaker, world population passed 7 billion this week, that’s an awful lot of mouths to feed. The UN also predicts that over the next forty years world demand for food will increase by 70%. Not that ought to be good news for farmers, but sadly since 1990, Britain’s capacity to feed itself has fallen by a fifth. Will the Prime Minister agree that this is a disastrous situation, and will he urgently bring forward a credible strategy to grow Britain’s farming industry to grow farming in the future”.
David Cameron replied “My honourable friend makes an important point, which is it is true that we’ve seen our own food security decline and our own food production severely challenged over the last ten years. I think it’s important to remember that farmers are businesses, and they need things done as other businesses do, in terms of deregulation, predictable income and all of those things, and this government is committed to make that happen, which will benefit people particularly in his own constituency”.
