Starmer to make EU trade and standards pledge as Tories ‘give up on farmers’

Keir Starmer will highlight how under 13 years of Conservative rule, public services have crumbled in rural areas. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Keir Starmer will promise farmers a closer trading relationship with the EU and to protect high British food standards, as he says the Conservatives have “given up on farmers”.

The Labour leader will make his pitch to the rural community in a speech to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on Tuesday, promising more police and community support officers in the countryside.