Daniel Zeichner MP: speeches

Speeches

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I do not think it is my assessment, but that of the voters, who made it very clear.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  Once again, I would say that it is by having a stable, sensible approach to farming support in the coming years. Clearly in Scotland this area is devolved, and it is for the Scottish Government to determine how they operate, but we are setting the overall context, and in a stable economy in the future farmers will thrive.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend, who is another of my near neighbours. I did not use to have many near neighbours who were anywhere near as friendly as my new near neighbours, but Cambridgeshire has changed. Cambridgeshire has changed for a very clear reason: Cambridgeshire lost trust in the Conservative party. I am determined to build trust across the entire country by maintaining, over a prolonged period, the levels of support necessary to allow people to farm successfully. My answer to my hon. Friend is to look at the Budget, where we saw an increase in the farming budget. We will look to maintain proper support into the future because, exactly as has been said, these are long-term businesses and long-term interests. The reason that they are long-term is that we are all going to need to eat.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady will know that many things impact food prices. I gently suggest to the Conservatives that they might want to look more closely at food price rises over the past few years before giving us any lectures on how to manage things. I am confident about this, because I have looked at the figures issued by the Treasury on the number of claims made in the past few years, and our figures stack up.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I love visiting farms all over the country, and I am sure North Dorset will feature on my list at some point in the future. On this whole question of optimism, pessimism and the stress and strain in the countryside, my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) earlier warned about some of the things that are being said. I urge people to be temperate in their language on these issues, because people are stressed, anxious and worried. My task is to be calm, sensible and reassuring to them, and to remind them that the vast majority will be able to pass on their farms just as they have before. Just as pressing is to tackle those other real issues that they face. I do not underestimate the challenges that people face—of course it is difficult, and we know it is hard, but this Government will do everything we can to support people and to maintain their prosperity into the future.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  We treasure our wide range of farms, which are very different in different parts of the country. The agricultural budget is at its highest level ever and it will provide support, particularly to small farms. The previous Government ended the five-hectare minimum level. I strongly support that and it will continue to be the case.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman is very knowledgeable about these issues. I just gently ask him to look closely at the detail and the figures, which show that the numbers are low. I do not recognise his characterisation of the future.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady will know that farming policy is different in Scotland, but on the tax issues, which are UK-wide, that is absolutely right, but I would suggest that she gets her farmers to look in detail at these proposals, and what they will find is the vast majority— [ Interruption. ] When they look at them in detail, they will find that the vast majority will be absolutely fine.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. I do not think it is broken down by national area at the moment, but it is something we can go away and look at.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It seems that the Conservative party does not understand that if we raise taxes and invest in the future, we can do more to protect people who cannot protect themselves. It is vital that we tackle rural crime, which is a top issue that is raised with me consistently.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  Seventy-three per cent of agricultural property relief claims are for less than £1 million. The vast majority of farmers will not be affected. They will be able to pass the family farm down to their children just as previous generations have always done. It is a fair and balanced approach that protects family farms while also fixing the public services that those same families rely on. It is part of a Budget that will restore economic stability and begin a decade of national renewal.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  Yes, we have, because we have looked at the figures. Again, I do not recognise the hon. Gentleman’s characterisation although, given some of the things that have been said over the last few days, I understand why people are alarmed.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I think the hon. Gentleman will know that the definition of a farm is actually rather complicated. That is what makes this quite a difficult debate, and I am not going to comment on individual farms, but the overall assessment— [Interruption.] Let me return to the point about the Treasury figures, which show that the number of claims likely to be affected by this change is relatively low.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  “Could be at risk” has a very broad definition. The figures are absolutely clear, and I suggest that the hon. Gentleman looks at them.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman has raised an important point. We will be addressing it through the land use framework, which will be delivered in the next couple of months. Of course there are trade-offs. There are a range of pressures on our land, in respect of housing, food, energy and so many other things. We need to have a rational way of making those decisions, and that is exactly what we will introduce.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  At no point did I say that farming families did not understand the detail. What I asked was for Members on the Conservative Benches to look at the detail, because when they look at the detail, they will find the truth.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I have been on an extended farm tour for the last five years, and I am sure it will continue.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for promoting me to Secretary of State—I hope he has similar success in the coming hours. The hon. Gentleman raises a whole series of questions. He asked again, as others have, about other elements in the Budget. The figures are absolutely there; they were published by the Treasury and are there for all to read. They are the facts on the estates that have made claims on agricultural property relief in the last year available. [ Interruption. ] They are there for everyone to see. It is not difficult, it is not complicated—they are there. Something that perhaps has not been said, but which should be, is that there were many calls to reflect the changing way in which farming operates by including environmental land management schemes within the scope of agricultural property relief. I hear nothing from Opposition Front Benchers about that. Do they not understand the way in which British farming is changing?

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am very reluctant to offer tax advice to anybody, but the advice I have been given is that the figure may even be more than that. I urge people to look closely at the detail, rather than jumping to the worst conclusion.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  It is very good to see my near neighbour. What I will say to Cambridgeshire farmers is that the thing they need most of all is a stable economy, and they also need a sound environment in which they can farm. The measures that we are putting in place will ensure their prosperity for the future.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman will know that tax discussions during the run-up to a Budget are a delicate issue. However, there was no shortage of discussion in newspaper columns across the country, so there has clearly been discussion. Younger people who want to go into farming face real obstacles, and this change could help.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I thank my fellow East Anglian MP for his contribution. Am I surprised? No, I am not entirely surprised, because people are very fed up and depressed, and they have been depressed for a long time. I understand why it is difficult, but my job is to reassure and talk calmly to people, and that is what I shall continue to do.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member asks what we did. What we did was look at the farming budget and ensure that we protected it, to allow his constituents and constituents across the country to take part in the schemes that will support them in that important transition.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Not only do those people seem to relish finding ways of creatively running their accounts, but some of them even take money to write columns about it.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  I see the hon. Gentleman nodding. He is well versed in that; he knows.