THE government’s Farming Roadmap sets is a good positive step in the right direction, but there is plenty we can do right now.

Much more must be done to deliver a better deal for farmers, and it must be done quickly. I support the Roadmap that was set out this week, and particularly the commitment to, at a minimum, maintain and support domestic levels of food production, and to take steps towards clearer labelling: All welcome. However, we must accelerate our ambition to realise this, and I am much more ambitious about the potential of our British farmers.

Unlike the Conservatives, Labour has made our commitment to protecting farmers in new trade deals crystal clear, living up to those both in the trade deals we have already struck, such as with South Korea and India, and once again in the Farming Roadmap. Under the Tories, free trade agreements (FTAs) were struck with countries such as New Zealand and Australia, which allowed for unlimited imports of beef and lamb, grown using techniques and in conditions that would be illegal in the UK. To top it all off, those same agreements were estimated by the then Tory Government to cost the British agricultural, fishing, and lumber sectors £107-million.

Farmers got undercut and lost millions, and shoppers got food of worse quality and with lower welfare standards: A deal which benefited no-one. Our Farming Roadmap makes it clear that this won’t be allowed to happen again.

On the flip side, the nod to “clear food labelling” was welcome but could have gone further: It was only mentioned twice. Whilst I welcome the recognition and understanding that shoppers deserve clearer labels so they’re able to make better informed decisions, there needs to be a clear and concerted push to get this delivered.

For months, the Labour Rural Research Group – a group of over forty MPs representing rural and semi-rural constituencies – have been campaigning for Honest Labelling, a new way of labelling our food which will ensure shoppers can play their part in backing our British farmers by putting more pounds back in their pockets, safe in the knowledge that what they’re buying is truly British or high welfare. We believe that, by copying the successful Australian system of labelling, we can deliver the necessary legislation within 100 days.

I truly believe that farmers deserve to see their fundamental operating profitability improved by the end of this Parliament compared to where we started, and that this is an achievable aim. Whilst the Farming Roadmap sets us is a good first step in the right direction, there are plenty of things we can do right now to deliver a better deal for farmers.

I believe that if we improve the way we label our food, and make it easier to back British farmers by bringing in Honest Labelling, farmers win, animals win, and shoppers win.