Future of European Agricultural Policy is a key issue for Wantage and Didcot constituency (Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats)

Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats <info@wantagelibdems.org.uk>

Future of European Agricultural Policy is a key issue for Wantage and Didcot constituency

March 25, 2010 2:11 PM

Shadow Agriculture Secretary Tim Farron MP

With the European Parliament having a real say on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the first time, the position of political parties in the UK will be a key issue in rural constituencies like Wantage and Didcot in the General Election. With Tim Farron MP gaining the respect of the farming community at home and George Lyon MEP taking a pro-active role in Europe, it is not surprising that the Liberal Democrats are leading the debate.

The next round of reforms will kick in from 2013, but will be hammered out over the next two years. The process will begin with agreeing the CAP budget for the next financial perspective. A group of member states led by France met recently to agree a common position but the UK was not invited. The UK is seen as uniquely hostile to the CAP by the other member states, largely due to the Labour government's stated aim of abolishing direct payments to farmers. This has led to the UK failing to engage with the real debate concerning the details of CAP reform.

George Lyon MEP has produced a report for the EP Agriculture Committee after a whirlwind tour of the EU for talks with various agriculture ministers. George said: "This document is designed to promote discussion and debate in the European Parliament on some of the hard choices facing the CAP in the future. It sets out clearly the radical changes that the CAP has undergone already from market-distortion to market-orientation. There are substantial new challenges that must now be addressed.

"A huge increase in population, coupled with a substantial increase in demand for food from developing countries against the backdrop of less land, less water and less energy due to climate change is the key driver for reform. I firmly believe that a fairer, greener, more sustainable CAP is the right solution to these challenges. We must convince taxpayers and consumers that farmers are part of the solution, not part of the problem. It is vital that we have the resources to meet these new challenges and I will be fighting for a substantial CAP budget in order to do just that."

Wantage and Didcot spokesman Alan Armitage commented: "The Liberal Democrats have agreed policy in advance of the CAP negotiations and have a coherent approach that has been adopted at European level through the manifesto of the Liberal Democrats and their allies. This cannot be said of either the centre-right EPP group or the Socialists so George has every chance of delivering on our priorities."