Labour urged to reveal policy plans for tenanted sector

The Labour Party needs to be clear about it plans for agriculture and the tenanted sector to convince farmers it is ready for government, the Tenant Farmers Association has said.

The association’s chief executive, George Dunn, said it was a “big win” to hear Labour leader Keir Starmer talk about the importance of the Rock Review on tenant farming and the need for tenant farmers to have a fair deal when he spoke at the NFU Conference in Birmingham last month.

See also: Baroness Rock expects response to tenant review ‘in a month’

“I think there is a genuine sense within Labour that they want to do something different for the let sector,” he told Farmers Weekly.

“But it’s easy, though, for Sir Keir to say in opposition what you don’t deliver in government.”

Farmers had experienced mixed fortunes under previous Labour governments, Mr Dunn said. Therefore, many need convincing that a Labour government, led by Sir Keir, would be good for agriculture and its tenanted sector.

“Sir Keir has moved back towards the centre, but there are concerns about what he would do with do with licences to control badgers to eradicate bovine TB and the right to roam in the countryside,” he added.

“We get a sense they seem to understand the need to intervene when there are market failures. They are less dominated by the free-marketeer approach this current government has.

“On the groceries code adjudicator, supply chain issues, the landlord/tenant relationship, we would have a government that would be much more interventionist, which is no bad thing.”

‘Government-in-waiting’

Mr Dunn expects Labour to start increasing engagement with farmers and reveal more of its plans for agriculture later this year.

“Labour is the party in waiting and I generally think governments lose elections rather than oppositions win elections,” he said.

“Conservative backbenchers are telling me the ‘writing is on the wall’ and they may only have a short time left before they have to give way.”

Mr Dunn stressed the Tenant Farmers Association is apolitical and enjoys good relations with all three main political parties (the Conservatives, Labour and  Liberal Democrats). The next general election must be held no later than 24 January 2025.