Hilary Benn was appointed DEFRA secretary two years ago
and the vegetarian minister was quick to tell farmers: "Judge me on
what I do, not what I eat."
So what is your judgement of what he has done over the past 24
months? Where has he been successful and where has he failed. We're
asking for your views.
Here is what has been said so far on the forums:
"I question where his loyalties lie, they certainly don't
seem to lie with British agriculture. Undoubtedly he has one of the
worst jobs in the cabinet and, like Becket and Milliband before
him, can't wait to get freed from the millstone that is DEFRA. But
when we look back at this era and think of the name Benn we in the
ag industry will inevitably remember someone who pandered to the
whims of the single issue groups and refused to listen to the
industry. " The Cornish Man
"It seems that Labour, and therefore Benn, assume that
anything relevant to agriculture will be decided at an EU level.
Well in a lot of respects that's true, but it seems that when some
new or updated Directive is proposed, the UK agriculture team do
not have sufficient detailed knowledge to effectively argue our
case with the EU bureaucrats. DEFRA are pretty good at
consultation when it comes to putting directives into UK law and
under Benn seem to have been better at not gold-plating the
legislation. BUT at this stage it is too late and we end up with
ever more inappropriate and irrelevant regulation which is
detrimental to UK agriculture. (By the way, this is not just a
failing of DEFRA, but also applies to many other government
departments too.). So, my verdict? Shows signs of promise but too
easily influenced by inappropriate friends. Could do better."
Jacobus
See what others have written
about Hilary Benn and add your own comments on this discussion
thread.