Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner MP has said that he hopes to "soon" visit South Shropshire. It is in response to a written question that Stuart Anderson MP has submitted in Parliament.
The UK Government Minister, who is responsible for food security and rural affairs, was responding to an invitation that Stuart had earlier sent to the Environment Secretary, Steve Reed MP.
In his response published on 12th June 2025, Mr Zeichner said:
"Thank you for your invitation. Ministers regularly engage and visit farmers across England and have met with farming organisations and representatives nearly every week since coming into Government, and I hope to visit farmers in your constituency soon."
Stuart originally issued his invitation to the Environment Secretary on 5th December 2024, after he was contacted by more than 80 farmers who enquiried about government support for the sector.
After Stuart received no response for six months, he submitted a written parliamentary question chasing a reply. This prompted Mr Zeichner to confirm that he hopes to visit the constituency soon.
Stuart hopes to organise a question and answer session with the Minister, local farmers, and agricultural business owners. This is so that Ministers can respond to the concerns raised in farmer's letter.
The letter from farmers followed a drastic reduction in the generosity of Inheritance Tax Relief on agricultural properties announced at the Autumn Budget.
The change will be the first time that this support has been reduced since 1984. In their letter to Stuart, the farmers said that it will "inflict permanent damage on the rural economy."
Stuart has added that local farmers will now have even more questions for the government, after the Spending Review on 11th June revealed plans for "rapidly winding down subsidy payments."
In what has been branded a "double whammy" for the farming sector, the farming budget is also being cut by £100 million. This includes a 98% cut to basic payments.
The Government has brought forward the end of direct payments. There has resulted in concerns that it risks undermining farmer confidence before new support schemes are fully in place.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
"I am glad that Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner MP plans to soon visit South Shropshire. This follows the invitation that I sent to the Environment Secretary Steve Reed MP to attend a question and answer session with local farmers more than six months ago. Since I sent the invitation, local farmers have many more questions for the Ministers about the Government’s plans to support national food security. This follows the announcement of the Family Farm Tax last year, in addition to drastic cuts in support that were more recently announced at the Spending Review on 11th June 2025."
