Stuart Anderson MP Slates Labour’s “Insufficient” Farm Support
Stuart Anderson MP has invited Prime Minister Andy Burnham to visit South Shropshire to meet farmers facing one of the toughest summers in years and make the case for support to boost food security.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
“Farmers in South Shropshire are facing one of the toughest summers in years. Yields are down, costs are up, and there is serious pressure on water supplies. Prime Minister Andy Burnham‘s funding boost for farmers is being “reprioritised” from within Defra’s own budget, meaning farmers will not receive extra support. It also fails to make up for Labour’s earlier decision to cut £100 million from farming and countryside programmes, impacting the very schemes that help farms invest in water, soil health and flood resilience. The Conservatives pledged to increase the farming budget by £1 billion this Parliament with annual inflationary uplifts. That is the long-term support our farmers need to keep producing British food. I have invited the Prime Minister to visit South Shropshire so I can make the case for genuinely new support that will boost our nation’s food security.”
Officials have said Prime Minister Andy Burnham is in “listening mode" as he travels the country, seeking to address key issues that will inform his 10-year plan for Britain. Stuart has said that meeting with farmers and residents in South Shropshire will help to ensure the plan is rural-proof and genuinely meets the needs of local farmers who are facing one of the toughest summers in years, with the UK’s arable harvest expected to be 1.35 million tonnes smaller than forecast. The downgrade is expected to reduce farm incomes by an extra £160 million, knocking off £550 million compared to forecasts in March.
Most recently, Andy Burnham unveiled a package of support to help farmers hit by prolonged dry weather. This includes £50 million extra for this year’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and £15 million for on-farm reservoirs. However, it has been revealed that the package for farmers is not new money from the Treasury. Defra has confirmed it is instead being funded through “reprioritisation within the existing farming budget”, meaning one area of support is being cut to pay for another.
Stuart has called the announcement a cynical move, after the government’s Farmer Opinion Tracker earlier this month showed only 35% of farmers feel positive about their future in farming. The government has struggled to move the dial from 33% recorded in 2025 after the Family Farm Tax was imposed and £100 million was cut from farming and countryside programmes at last year’s Spending Review. Stuart has said those cuts hit the very programmes designed to help farms invest in water, soil health, and resilience. This includes key schemes including the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship, Landscape Recovery, and capital grants.
The Farmers Guardian reports that farmers have called the Prime Minister’s emergency funding announcement a “knee-jerk reaction”, claiming it would amount to about £100 per farmer if shared equally across the industry. For longer term certainty, the Conservatives pledged in their manifesto at the General Election in July 2024 to increase the UK-wide farming budget by £1 billion over this Parliament. That commitment included annual uplifts in line with inflation so that farmers could plan, adapt, and continue producing food for the country.
