Farmers outline their demands from the next prime minister

The South West Norfolk MP has outlined her rural industry credentials while campaigning against her rival candidate, former chancellor Rishi Sunak.

She gained many supporters within East Anglia's farming industry during her two years as environment secretary, from 2014 to 2016.

But, since then, the industry has struggled with the impact of post-Brexit subsidy losses and labour shortages, soaring costs and concerns over new global trade deals.

In particular, the deal she brokered with Australia during her tenure as international trade secretary was described by opponents as a "betrayal of British farming", with concerns it could force East Anglian producers to compete with cheap imports produced to lower standards than are legal here.

As the leadership race gathers pace, the region's farming leaders listed their key priorities for the next prime minister.

They include a commitment to maintain food self-sufficiency levels, incentives for farm businesses to invest, and an "international trade strategy which protects the high animal welfare and environmental standards seen across Norfolk’s farms".

Ms Truss, currently the foreign secretary, said she would "remove onerous EU regulations and red tape" if she becomes prime minister.

"The pandemic and cost-of-living crisis have shown it is more vital than ever for us to ensure we have a high-quality and affordable supply of British food," she said.

"As a former Defra secretary of state, I understand the challenges faced by farmers, and they can trust me to deliver the changes they need.

"I will cut the red tape that is holding them back and hitting them in their pocket".

Ms Truss also vowed to tackle the labour shortages in farming, partly caused by post-Brexit freedom of movement restrictions, which have left crops unharvested and healthy pigs being culled due to lack of processing capacity in meat factories.

She said she would expand a seasonal workers scheme, launched in 2019, which temporarily allows 40,000 overseas workers into the UK for vital roles in the horticulture and poultry sectors.

And she promised to work to address longer-term skills shortages and legal hurdles to the adoption of labour-saving technologies, including agricultural drone use and precision breeding technologies.

Farming leaders in East Anglia, while not backing either of the leadership candidates, said whoever became prime minister would need to resolve a raft of industry challenges.

Charles Hesketh, East Anglia regional policy manager for the National Farmers' Union (NFU) said: “It’s vital that whoever gets the keys to Number 10 works to unlock the full potential of British food and farming.

“Farmers’ confidence is low due to issues including spiralling costs, labour shortages and uncertainty about future support schemes.

“The new government must ensure that food production is taken seriously across Whitehall, building on the ambitions set out in the Food Strategy.

“This includes a commitment to maintaining current levels of food self-sufficiency, incentives for farm businesses to invest, and immigration policies that recognise the specific needs and challenges of agriculture and horticulture.

“We also need an international trade strategy that allows us to grow exports of quality British food, while protecting the high animal welfare and environmental standards seen across Norfolk’s farms.”

With voting getting under way soon, Ms Truss has played down claims she has a clear lead over Mr Sunak, even as her campaign was further buoyed by endorsements of party heavyweights during a crunch weekend in the race for Number Ten.

She insisted it was a “very, very close race,” while trumpeting her “support from right across all parts of the Conservative Party” after gaining Tory centrist Tom Tugendhat’s backing.

Ms Truss has also secured the backing of former NFU president Meurig Raymond, who said: "I share her vision of a competitive, profitable and sustainable farming sector underpinned by investment in the latest technology and innovation, and a proportionate and flexible approach to regulation".

Mr Sunak, however, has the support of current Defra environment secretary George Eustice, who wrote in the Telegraph: "He knows that farming families are at the heart of rural communities, that they are a key building block of the rural economy and that they provide the social capital that underpins rural communities."

The new prime minister will be announced on September 5.

Rishi Sunak's rural pledges

Former chancellor and Tory leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak has also made food security a key part of his “manifesto”.

Liz Truss' leadership rival has pledged to lead “the most pro-countryside, pro-farming government” the country has ever seen, if he becomes the next prime minister.

“Recent events have demonstrated the importance of domestic food production and the national resilience that it gives us," he said. "I will put a renewed focus on it – and ensure that we are supporting our farmers to boost production.”

Mr Sunak's pledges include boosting domestic food production through a new statutory UK food security target, introducing new targets for public sector organisations to source 50pc of their food locally, to "make farmers a priority in all future trade deals" and to "make sure that high-quality farmland is kept in production and not used for housing, ‘rewilding’ or large-scale solar farms".