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.
Starmer will highlight how under 13 years of Conservative rule, public services have crumbled in rural areas and crime rates have increased.
“If your village has an antisocial behaviour problem, or a fly-tipping problem, or off-road biking, and the only police officers around are in a station or custody suite miles away, filing an arrest, off the streets for hours – that’s a unique problem,” he will tell the conference.
“We’ll get 13,000 more police into our towns and villages, more police on countryside streets.
“All of this requires a different approach. One that is designed – from the start – with respect for the challenges of the countryside.”
The Labour party has announced new policies on crime in recent days, with the shadow justice secretary, Steve Reed, pledging “clean up squads” for fly-tippers.
The NFU has lobbied for years against trade deals that could undercut British farmers, such as the one the former prime minister Liz Truss struck with Australia, amid fears that post-Brexit Britain would be too reliant on imports.
Thérèse Coffey this week told the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture winter conference in Washington DC, that she hoped to increase trade with the US and import more of its “fantastic produce”.
However, Starmer will tell the conference that under a Labour government, British farmers will be prioritised and standards upheld.
He will say: “It was obvious the Conservative party had given up on farmers when they elected Liz Truss. Labour’s approach to trade will be very different – I can promise you that. We want to remove barriers to exporters, not put them up. We want to protect high British standards, not water them down.
“We are going to talk to our friends in the European Union, and we are going to seek a better trading relationship for British farming.”
The conference, held in the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, will also hear from Coffey and the farming minister, Mark Spencer.
Farmers will be hoping to hear greater clarity from the ministers on the new post-Brexit nature payments schemes, which replace the EU’s common agricultural policy subsidies. Many have complained the new payments system leaves them out of pocket, with many unable to access funds.
Starmer’s speech will not explicitly mention the farming payments, and Labour has not yet committed to spending the same as, or more than, the Conservatives, who have promised £2.4bn a year to land managers. The Liberal Democrats have said they would exceed this budget.
The Labour leader will, however, pledge to look at the supply chain, which many farmers have said is unfair as they make less than a penny an item from many popular supermarket staples, such as bread and cheese.
He will say: “All around the world, businesses are looking again at the resilience of their supply chains. Reacting to the crises we have faced and will face in the future – countries must do the same. That’s not protectionist. It’s the reality of delivering national resilience in this new era.”
