No sympathy from ministers

19 October 2001




No sympathy from ministers

WESTMINSTER rural affairs ministers have absolutely no sympathy with farming, Jim Walker the president of NFU Scotland told a conference at Builth Wells, Powys.

He accused ministers of mouthing naive and mindless claptrap about the future of farming subsidies

They had no understanding of the plight of the industry, and had just about abandoned it. Farmers would have to help themselves by producing quality products and co-operating to add value to them.

"No knight on a white horse will charge over the horizon to our rescue," Mr Walker told the NFU Cymru sponsored meeting. "Parliament will never again put agriculture near the top of its priorities."

Ministers in devolved assemblies would have to face those in Westminster head-on, and tell them to stop spouting ignorant and naive policies that threatened to cripple farming. &#42


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