NFU chief pledges to fight green tape
5 October 2000
NFU chief pledges to fight ‘green tape’
By FWi staff
NATIONAL Farmers Union president Ben Gill has pledged he will go all-out on the offensive to hold the creeping tide of new environmental regulations.
Addressing NFU Council on Thursday (05 October), Mr Gill said it was time to start speaking bluntly to the Government and other opinion-formers.
“We have got not just to divert these regulations; we have got to stop them and turn them around.
“The key for us is that we have to win this war once and for all. We cannot go on with these battles,” he said.
Mr Gill stressed it was important that his message was not misunderstood and farmers portrayed as not caring.
“We all live in the countryside and we all care for it”, he said.
At the same meeting, deputy president Tim Bennett said if farmers identified and addressed public concerns, they could avoid legislation in the first place.