Does Rishi Sunak really get it? (a.k.a Letter from the Prime Minister (RPA email))

[Steevo]

Dear Farmers Nine years ago, I gave my maiden speech in the House of Commons. I pledged that day to be a champion of the countryside and of my hard-working rural constituents. Nearly a decade later, I still stand by those words. It is farmers who feed us and proudly steward the land. You do it not for praise, or high reward but to put food on our tables and to maintain a tradition and a way of life that really matters. We don’t celebrate that enough. I know that it’s been an unprecedented year, with global impacts from the illegal invasion of Ukraine to the Red Sea, to an unseasonably wet autumn alongside significant flooding. As you navigate your business through this period, I want you to know, that this government will be by your side. We are sticking to our plan to deliver the long-term change that you need. We’ve been working hard to get inflation down – from 11.1% last year to 4% now. We announced at the Oxford Farming Conference last month that we’re increasing your payments in Countryside Stewardship and SFI by an average of 10%. We are the government of rural communities, made up of people like you, including our farming minister himself and a rural MP as Prime Minister. Which is why we’ve got a plan to support British farming – and we’re going further again in three areas. First, we’re investing in farming. We promised you that across this Parliament, every penny of the £2.4bn annual budget would be reinvested back into the farming sector - and that is what we’re going to do. I know that the transition away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has taken time, and while we may not have always got the balance right, I still believe that the vision is the right one. CAP disproportionately rewarded the largest landowners and held back smaller farmers. It did little for food productivity or the environment. It was far, far too bureaucratic, even asking whether cauliflower or cabbage were the same crop. By sticking with the plan, our new system will invest in the foundations of food security from healthy soils to clean water. We’re moving in the right direction, with nearly half of all farmers now in one of our schemes. Each of you has access to options that work for your business, if you choose to enter. We will never set sweeping top-down mandatory requirements to access our schemes that take you back to square one. Whether it be a field corner or slope that has never been quite right for planting, or you want to manage all of your soil from one farm gate to the other sustainably - it’s up to you to sign up to as much or a little as works for you. All of this should be alongside your role as food producers, not to replace it. That includes the 19,000 of you who have accessed free business advice, the 185 innovation projects underway, and the 1,200 direct drills, over 500 variable speed drive systems and 1000 dribble bars funded to date. Yet I still want us to go further to really invest in your business’s success, which is why I’m taking new steps to make our support schemes more generous and easier to use: We’re doubling the Management Payment for the Sustainable Farming Incentive to up to £2,000 in the first year of all agreements starting by March 2025 – this payment has already seen a record number of small farmers signing up. This means that the thousands of farmers already in SFI will receive that top up this Spring. We will also be extending it to new Countryside Stewardship mid-tier agreements from this summer (and those who already have agreements can have an additional agreement alongside that to get access to this payment). We’re also launching the biggest ever package of grants totaling £220m for farm businesses to boost productivity and innovation. The Productivity and Innovation scheme to help invest in things like robotics and rooftop solar has been hugely popular, so we’re increasing it from £30m to £50m. We’re also opening a new round of the Farming Equipment and Technology fund worth £70m. Second, as farming changes, so how we work with you in government must change too. In April we’ll change the rules we promised so that you can introduce farm shops or outside sports venues to diversify your business and build resilience into your bottom line. We recognise that farming is often not an easy job, with long hours, in remote isolated rural areas, we want to offer more support, including for mental health. So I’m providing half a million pounds to support grassroots charities who have done incredible work in so many farming communities already, to do just that. Third, we’re strengthening our food security. I am clear, your crucial role is to produce the nation’s food. Food security is a vital part of our national security and the events of recent years have brought home the truth of that. We must be more agile and responsive in order to meet our commitment to at least maintain domestic food production at current levels – roughly 60% of the food we consume. So we will enhance our monitoring through a new Food Security Index, which will be made statutory when Parliamentary time allows. This will present the key data and analysis needed to monitor how we are maintaining our current levels of self-sufficiency and overall food security. We will publish the first draft during the second UK Farm to Fork Summit this Spring, which will be an annual event. Finally, one of the best ways to ensure food security is to stop millions of tonnes of good, surplus farm food from going needlessly to waste, just because it may be a little too wonky or a little too small. So we’re going to provide £15m to help you redirect those supplies into the hands of those who need it. Supporting farmers, changing the way we work with you, and strengthening food security – this is our plan. You can trust us to deliver – because we already are. You said you wanted a fair price for your products and so we’re laying new regulations for the dairy sector, as a first step towards greater fairness in supply chains. You asked for greater protection in our trade deals and we’re ensuring the trade deals we do – with Canada or anyone else – work for the farming sector. You asked for a fairer, more supportive regulatory system and we’ve reformed our approach to lead with advice, with 40% fewer cross-compliance penalties for minor issues. More than this, you can trust us to stick to our plan and deliver because I know that I can’t talk about growing the economy without talking about you. Our food and farming sector employs millions, adds billions to our economy every year, and produces some of the best produce, of the best quality and to the highest standards, anywhere in the world. You are some of the best of British. That’s why I will always protect farming and our rural communities and that’s why I say to you – just as I did in my first days in Parliament: I will always back you. You can find out more by reading today’s Press Notice on GOV.UK. or by contacting RPA at [email protected]. You can also call us on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm). Yours sincerely, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP​

 

[Bald Rick]

​ Dear Farmers Nine years ago, I gave my maiden speech in the House of Commons. I pledged that day to be a champion of the countryside and of my hard-working rural constituents. Nearly a decade later, I still stand by those words. It is farmers who feed us and proudly steward the land. You do it not for praise, or high reward but to put food on our tables and to maintain a tradition and a way of life that really matters. We don’t celebrate that enough. I know that it’s been an unprecedented year, with global impacts from the illegal invasion of Ukraine to the Red Sea, to an unseasonably wet autumn alongside significant flooding. As you navigate your business through this period, I want you to know, that this government will be by your side. We are sticking to our plan to deliver the long-term change that you need. We’ve been working hard to get inflation down – from 11.1% last year to 4% now. We announced at the Oxford Farming Conference last month that we’re increasing your payments in Countryside Stewardship and SFI by an average of 10%. We are the government of rural communities, made up of people like you, including our farming minister himself and a rural MP as Prime Minister. Which is why we’ve got a plan to support British farming – and we’re going further again in three areas. First, we’re investing in farming. We promised you that across this Parliament, every penny of the £2.4bn annual budget would be reinvested back into the farming sector - and that is what we’re going to do. I know that the transition away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has taken time, and while we may not have always got the balance right, I still believe that the vision is the right one. CAP disproportionately rewarded the largest landowners and held back smaller farmers. It did little for food productivity or the environment. It was far, far too bureaucratic, even asking whether cauliflower or cabbage were the same crop. By sticking with the plan, our new system will invest in the foundations of food security from healthy soils to clean water. We’re moving in the right direction, with nearly half of all farmers now in one of our schemes. Each of you has access to options that work for your business, if you choose to enter. We will never set sweeping top-down mandatory requirements to access our schemes that take you back to square one. Whether it be a field corner or slope that has never been quite right for planting, or you want to manage all of your soil from one farm gate to the other sustainably - it’s up to you to sign up to as much or a little as works for you. All of this should be alongside your role as food producers, not to replace it. That includes the 19,000 of you who have accessed free business advice, the 185 innovation projects underway, and the 1,200 direct drills, over 500 variable speed drive systems and 1000 dribble bars funded to date. Yet I still want us to go further to really invest in your business’s success, which is why I’m taking new steps to make our support schemes more generous and easier to use: ​ We’re doubling the Management Payment for the Sustainable Farming Incentive to up to £2,000 in the first year of all agreements starting by March 2025 – this payment has already seen a record number of small farmers signing up. This means that the thousands of farmers already in SFI will receive that top up this Spring. We will also be extending it to new Countryside Stewardship mid-tier agreements from this summer (and those who already have agreements can have an additional agreement alongside that to get access to this payment). ​ We’re also launching the biggest ever package of grants totaling £220m for farm businesses to boost productivity and innovation. The Productivity and Innovation scheme to help invest in things like robotics and rooftop solar has been hugely popular, so we’re increasing it from £30m to £50m. We’re also opening a new round of the Farming Equipment and Technology fund worth £70m. Second, as farming changes, so how we work with you in government must change too. In April we’ll change the rules we promised so that you can introduce farm shops or outside sports venues to diversify your business and build resilience into your bottom line. We recognise that farming is often not an easy job, with long hours, in remote isolated rural areas, we want to offer more support, including for mental health. So I’m providing half a million pounds to support grassroots charities who have done incredible work in so many farming communities already, to do just that. Third, we’re strengthening our food security. I am clear, your crucial role is to produce the nation’s food. Food security is a vital part of our national security and the events of recent years have brought home the truth of that. We must be more agile and responsive in order to meet our commitment to at least maintain domestic food production at current levels – roughly 60% of the food we consume. So we will enhance our monitoring through a new Food Security Index, which will be made statutory when Parliamentary time allows. This will present the key data and analysis needed to monitor how we are maintaining our current levels of self-sufficiency and overall food security. We will publish the first draft during the second UK Farm to Fork Summit this Spring, which will be an annual event. Finally, one of the best ways to ensure food security is to stop millions of tonnes of good, surplus farm food from going needlessly to waste, just because it may be a little too wonky or a little too small. So we’re going to provide £15m to help you redirect those supplies into the hands of those who need it. Supporting farmers, changing the way we work with you, and strengthening food security – this is our plan. You can trust us to deliver – because we already are. You said you wanted a fair price for your products and so we’re laying new regulations for the dairy sector, as a first step towards greater fairness in supply chains. You asked for greater protection in our trade deals and we’re ensuring the trade deals we do – with Canada or anyone else – work for the farming sector. You asked for a fairer, more supportive regulatory system and we’ve reformed our approach to lead with advice, with 40% fewer cross-compliance penalties for minor issues. More than this, you can trust us to stick to our plan and deliver because I know that I can’t talk about growing the economy without talking about you. Our food and farming sector employs millions, adds billions to our economy every year, and produces some of the best produce, of the best quality and to the highest standards, anywhere in the world. You are some of the best of British. That’s why I will always protect farming and our rural communities and that’s why I say to you – just as I did in my first days in Parliament: I will always back you. You can find out more by reading today’s Press Notice on GOV.UK. or by contacting RPA at [email protected]. You can also call us on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm). Yours sincerely, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP​

pfft … no good referring to British farming then banging on about SFI payments and the only reason inflation is down is because of cash flow stretching interest rates.
Best thing he could do is take back agriculture from the devolved nations but, oh, the outcry ….

Must be an election I’m sniffing

 

[BrianV]

pfft … no good referring to British farming then banging on about SFI payments and the only reason inflation is down is because of cash flow stretching interest rates.
Best thing he could do is take back agriculture from the devolved nations but, oh, the outcry ….

Must be an election I’m sniffing

Love the bit about not wanting a disproportionate amount of money going to large estates, not living in the real world is he.

 

[Tamar]

Is there an election looming !!

It is great we get some money, but now cut some of the bulls**t that goes with the job. (that probably counts for all industries !)

 

[Martin Holden]

pfft … no good referring to British farming then banging on about SFI payments and the only reason inflation is down is because of cash flow stretching interest rates.
Best thing he could do is take back agriculture from the devolved nations but, oh, the outcry ….

Must be an election I’m sniffing

Yes, jut like rescinding the change in crew cab tax status. Eventually HMRC will classify them as cars and that’ll be it! The drive towards electric is both admirable and flawed in equal measure. Just a shame the real problem with this single solution will only become widely obvious when we struggle to generate enough electricity and the price goes through the roof!! Forward thinking bypass me thinks.

 

[Boysground]

Total rubbish.

Bg

 

[Exfarmer]

Sadly the last 14 years of Conservative government have been a completely wasted opportunity. Not doing the things which should have been done, promising things for tomorrow which never comes. jumping into bed with the environmentalists with not a clue how to deliver the energy changes required especially the lack of any clue among them of the vast expenditure required to deliver the infra structure.
Then comes the total failure to maintain existing infrastructure such as roads rivers etc. then there is HS2 whether you think as I do that it should have been built or not, the extreme waste of money whenh Estonia has just awarded a 560 mile HS rail for a quoted 7.6billion Euro

 

[Two Tone]

“Oh please don’t demonstrate using your tractors, I beg you!”
“I’m in enough trouble as it is without you lot kicking off on top of everyone else.”
“Here’s a bribe - that isn’t actually a bribe!”
“Now F off and be good bird food growers - I mean farmers.”

 

[DrWazzock]

The speech contradicts their own policy as far as food supply security goes.
Is he actually aware and familiar with SFI? Hard to believe he is.
The whole thing is right old muddle with no cap on enviro schemes about to turn into an issue as long as crop production remains unattractive. Oh well.

 

[J 1177]

Warra load of old shite

 

[slackjawedyokel]

The speech contradicts their own policy as far as food supply security goes.
Is he actually aware and familiar with SFI? Hard to believe he is.
The whole thing is right old muddle with no cap on enviro schemes about to turn into an issue as long as crop production remains unattractive. Oh well.

My, you are all a cynical lot. Do you REALLY think Rishi is going around like Santa, dishing out cash, promises and warm words so we don’t create bad headlines and awkwardness in an election year??

You should be a gullible idiot like I am

 

[Will7]

“Oh please don’t demonstrate using your tractors, I beg you!”
“I’m in enough trouble as it is without you lot kicking off on top of everyone else.”
“Here’s a bribe - that isn’t actually a bribe!”
“Now F off and be good bird food growers - I mean farmers.”

That is exactly how it came across to me as well

 

[David1968]

He didn't write all that. I doubt he even read it before it was sent out.

 

[steveR]

​ Dear Farmers Nine years ago, I gave my maiden speech in the House of Commons. I pledged that day to be a champion of the countryside and of my hard-working rural constituents. Nearly a decade later, I still stand by those words. It is farmers who feed us and proudly steward the land. You do it not for praise, or high reward but to put food on our tables and to maintain a tradition and a way of life that really matters. We don’t celebrate that enough. I know that it’s been an unprecedented year, with global impacts from the illegal invasion of Ukraine to the Red Sea, to an unseasonably wet autumn alongside significant flooding. As you navigate your business through this period, I want you to know, that this government will be by your side. We are sticking to our plan to deliver the long-term change that you need. We’ve been working hard to get inflation down – from 11.1% last year to 4% now. We announced at the Oxford Farming Conference last month that we’re increasing your payments in Countryside Stewardship and SFI by an average of 10%. We are the government of rural communities, made up of people like you, including our farming minister himself and a rural MP as Prime Minister. Which is why we’ve got a plan to support British farming – and we’re going further again in three areas. First, we’re investing in farming. We promised you that across this Parliament, every penny of the £2.4bn annual budget would be reinvested back into the farming sector - and that is what we’re going to do. I know that the transition away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has taken time, and while we may not have always got the balance right, I still believe that the vision is the right one. CAP disproportionately rewarded the largest landowners and held back smaller farmers. It did little for food productivity or the environment. It was far, far too bureaucratic, even asking whether cauliflower or cabbage were the same crop. By sticking with the plan, our new system will invest in the foundations of food security from healthy soils to clean water. We’re moving in the right direction, with nearly half of all farmers now in one of our schemes. Each of you has access to options that work for your business, if you choose to enter. We will never set sweeping top-down mandatory requirements to access our schemes that take you back to square one. Whether it be a field corner or slope that has never been quite right for planting, or you want to manage all of your soil from one farm gate to the other sustainably - it’s up to you to sign up to as much or a little as works for you. All of this should be alongside your role as food producers, not to replace it. That includes the 19,000 of you who have accessed free business advice, the 185 innovation projects underway, and the 1,200 direct drills, over 500 variable speed drive systems and 1000 dribble bars funded to date. Yet I still want us to go further to really invest in your business’s success, which is why I’m taking new steps to make our support schemes more generous and easier to use:​ We’re doubling the Management Payment for the Sustainable Farming Incentive to up to £2,000 in the first year of all agreements starting by March 2025 – this payment has already seen a record number of small farmers signing up. This means that the thousands of farmers already in SFI will receive that top up this Spring. We will also be extending it to new Countryside Stewardship mid-tier agreements from this summer (and those who already have agreements can have an additional agreement alongside that to get access to this payment). ​ We’re also launching the biggest ever package of grants totaling £220m for farm businesses to boost productivity and innovation. The Productivity and Innovation scheme to help invest in things like robotics and rooftop solar has been hugely popular, so we’re increasing it from £30m to £50m. We’re also opening a new round of the Farming Equipment and Technology fund worth £70m. Second, as farming changes, so how we work with you in government must change too. In April we’ll change the rules we promised so that you can introduce farm shops or outside sports venues to diversify your business and build resilience into your bottom line. We recognise that farming is often not an easy job, with long hours, in remote isolated rural areas, we want to offer more support, including for mental health. So I’m providing half a million pounds to support grassroots charities who have done incredible work in so many farming communities already, to do just that. Third, we’re strengthening our food security. I am clear, your crucial role is to produce the nation’s food. Food security is a vital part of our national security and the events of recent years have brought home the truth of that. We must be more agile and responsive in order to meet our commitment to at least maintain domestic food production at current levels – roughly 60% of the food we consume. So we will enhance our monitoring through a new Food Security Index, which will be made statutory when Parliamentary time allows. This will present the key data and analysis needed to monitor how we are maintaining our current levels of self-sufficiency and overall food security. We will publish the first draft during the second UK Farm to Fork Summit this Spring, which will be an annual event. Finally, one of the best ways to ensure food security is to stop millions of tonnes of good, surplus farm food from going needlessly to waste, just because it may be a little too wonky or a little too small. So we’re going to provide £15m to help you redirect those supplies into the hands of those who need it. Supporting farmers, changing the way we work with you, and strengthening food security – this is our plan. You can trust us to deliver – because we already are. You said you wanted a fair price for your products and so we’re laying new regulations for the dairy sector, as a first step towards greater fairness in supply chains. You asked for greater protection in our trade deals and we’re ensuring the trade deals we do – with Canada or anyone else – work for the farming sector. You asked for a fairer, more supportive regulatory system and we’ve reformed our approach to lead with advice, with 40% fewer cross-compliance penalties for minor issues. More than this, you can trust us to stick to our plan and deliver because I know that I can’t talk about growing the economy without talking about you. Our food and farming sector employs millions, adds billions to our economy every year, and produces some of the best produce, of the best quality and to the highest standards, anywhere in the world. You are some of the best of British. That’s why I will always protect farming and our rural communities and that’s why I say to you – just as I did in my first days in Parliament: I will always back you. You can find out more by reading today’s Press Notice on GOV.UK. or by contacting RPA at [email protected]. You can also call us on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm). Yours sincerely, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP​

" ee lad, One Thousand Dribble bars"

What an odd thing to highlight?

 

[redsloe]

" lad, One Thousand Dribble bars"

What an odd thing to highlight?

Surely there's not that many in the House of Lords?

 

[Muddyroads]

My MP admitted to me last week that it’s taking a long time to turn around the supertanker that was created by Carrie Johnson and Zac Goldsmith. Quite an admission I thought.

 

[Henarar]

Good Lad, just bunged me another grand

 

[JP1]

Sadly the last 14 years of Conservative government have been a completely wasted opportunity. Not doing the things which should have been done, promising things for tomorrow which never comes. jumping into bed with the environmentalists with not a clue how to deliver the energy changes required especially the lack of any clue among them of the vast expenditure required to deliver the infra structure.
Then comes the total failure to maintain existing infrastructure such as roads rivers etc. then there is HS2 whether you think as I do that it should have been built or not, the extreme waste of money whenh Estonia has just awarded a 560 mile HS rail for a quoted 7.6billion Euro

Don't worry Jo Churchill's got a survey out to ask us what our local and National priorities are so she can recycle them

 

[Steevo]

He didn't write all that. I doubt he even read it before it was sent out.

During some of the clips of his NFU conference speech shown on the news he looked like he didn’t have a clue what he was saying.

 

[yellowbelly]

@Steevo, we got a slightly different letter in our inbox. I think it must have been the first draft, before the Whitehall mandarins got their hands on it ..........

Dear Suckers

Nine years ago, I gave my maiden speech in the House of Commons. I pledged that day to be a champion of the countryside and of my hard-working rural constituents. Nearly a decade later, I'm struggling to stand by those words.

It is farmers who feed us and proudly steward the land. You do it not for praise, or hardly any reward at all, but to put food on the tables of the ungrateful urban population and to maintain a tradition and a way of life that really matters, only to yourselves. We, the Government, don’t give a feck.

I know that it’s been an unprecedented year, with global impacts from the attempted illegal appropriation of your greening credentials by Red Tractor, to an unseasonably wet autumn alongside significant flooding, much of which is attributable to our august organisation, the Environment Agency. As you navigate your business through this period, (see what I did there? Navigate is the right word 'cos most of you need a feckin' boat at the moment) I want you to know, that this government will be by your side sticking to our plan to deliver the long-term change that we need - the one that sees us sacrifice agriculture, along with most of the rest of British industry, on the altar of net zero.

We’ve been working hard to get inflation down –. from 11.1% last year to 4% now because we realise there's an election looming and it's our last 'roll of the dice'. We announced at the Oxford Farming Conference last month that we’re increasing your payments in Countryside Stewardship and SFI by an average of 10%. Mind you 10% will amount to for fifths of bugger all by the time the RPA have made it that complicated that even they don't understand it. We are the government of urban communities, made up of people who are the exact polar opposite of you, apart from our farming minister himself (who ought to know better) and a pseudo-rural MP as Prime Minister.

Between Boris, Theresa and myself you're about to witness the squandering of the biggest parliamentary majority the Tories have had in living memory, so quite frankly, it doesn't matter a jot what I write in this pointless letter 'cos, after the next election, we won't be here to pick up the pieces.

Love from,

Little Rishi MP (small in stature and a midget in world politics)