EU trade simplification 'a work in progress', says PM to woo rural voters

Easier trade with the EU is a “work in progress”, Rishi Sunak said as he sought to woo farmers and rural voters ahead of the general election.

The prime minister used a speech at the National Farmers Union conference on Tuesday to unveil a package of measures to help farmers.

It comes as the sector says it is struggling with rising costs, reliance on cheap imports and new post-Brexit payment scheme aimed at sustainable development of agriculture.

When asked at Question Time what the government was doing to remove barriers to trade with the EU, the Prime Minister said: “What we are doing is working very actively with individual countries to mitigate all those areas where there is disagreement.

“To be honest, the work is still ongoing. But we are making progress.”

He said ministers were in talks with the EU about e-permits and that he was committed to ensuring farmers were not undermined in trade deals after Brexit.

But in his speech, the Prime Minister criticizes the previous oneBrexit status quo, arguing that the bloc's agricultural policies are “holding farmers back”.

He said: “I know the transition from the Common Agricultural Policy has been disappointing. It took time and I appreciate the view that we didn't always find the right balance.

“But I still think the vision is right. Kap disproportionately rewarded larger landowners and restrained small peasants.

“It had little impact on food productivity or the environment. It was very, very bureaucratic.”

Measures announced by the Prime Minister include the launch of a UK-wide Food Security Index to monitor the country's reliance on imported produce and a £15m fund to tackle food waste.

The prime minister said he was committed to improving food security and sounded the alarm over the low level of self-sufficiency in “things like tomatoes, pears, plums, lettuce and apples”.

He also highlighted £427 million in grants in 2024, including a doubling of the amount going to technologies and up to £220m of innovative schemes to support increased productivity for farmers – such as robotics, rooftop solar and agricultural research.

The money is part of the government's commitment to continuing to support the English language agriculture at the pre-Brexit level of £2.4 billion a year.

Mr Sunak was the first Prime Minister to address the conference since then Gordon Brown in 2008.

It comes as polling shows a drop in support for the Conservatives in their traditional rural areas and Labor recently making a move to become the “party of the countryside”.

But Environment Minister Steve Barclay this morning denied Mr. Sunak participation in the conference due to fear of the elections.

Asked if that was the case, he told LBC: “No, I worked with the Prime Minister, I was obviously his deputy in the Treasury, and when he asked me to do that role, I really wanted him to come to NFU. conference.

“I think it's important to show that the whole government is fully focused on food production and food security. I think the importance of food security has increased with the instability around the world.”

He also attacked Labor as an “urban” party “full of London MPs who don't understand our rural communities”.