Conservatives leave industry in crisis
Across the North East the news of the closure of the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales was met with sadness and remembrance for the past damage done by the Conservatives to industry in our region. This compelling evidence of the Conservative’s failure to enact a meaningful industrial strategy, or support industries critical to our national security demonstrates their incompetence and underlines their lack of a strategic vision for other sectors like agriculture.
Our Parliamentary Candidate Joe Morris has spoken out as he campaigns across the constituency – from Kielder, Tynedale, Ponteland and West Newcastle – in support of farmers and farming communities:
Our farming communities experience many of the same issues our steel sector does. Forced to compete on an uneven playing field by a Government with no interest in creating a positive environment for businesses. Whether it’s Northumbrian farmers or Welsh steelworkers, our industries are forced to compete in a race to the bottom against nations that do not observe the same standards as us.
Labour has pledged to deliver a “new deal for farmers”, seeking a veterinary agreement with the European Union: to cut red tape and costs at our borders and get our great British food exports moving again, supporting jobs across Northumberland, to use the government’s own purchasing power to back British produce with local or sustainably produced food, to turn on GB energy and deliver cheaper energy bills for families and farmers across the UK, to rewire Britain by making it easier for farmers to plug their renewable energy into the grid and to establish a Flood Resilience Task Force, reducing the risk of flooding across the UK with a COBRA-style taskforce to deliver drainage systems, flood defences and flood management schemes.
Analysis by the Labour Party has revealed that over 6,300 agricultural related businesses in the UK have terminated since 2017. This includes nearly 5,000 meat, fruit, vegetable, and dairy producers. Over the same period the number of people employed in agriculture has collapsed by a third over the same period. The analysis is a horrifying reminder of the impact of 13 years of Conservative rule that have left farmers stranded. Since 2019, farmers have faced more red tape and higher costs at our borders, blocking the export of high-quality British produce. The failure to invest in home-grown energy has left farmers crippled by skyrocketing energy prices, with the price of animal feed and fertiliser jumping by as much as 133% over the last year.
Join the Labour Party
Right across Hexham Constituency Labour Party members are working to Build a Better Britain and get Guy Opperman out after 13 disastrous years of Conservative government.
If you’d like to get involved please consider joining the party or making a donation.
Photo by Monika Kubala on Unsplash
