SofteningTheBlow

AGRICULTUREWhichever party or coalition is in power at the timeof Brexit would do well to heed these warnings. Theywould no longer be able to point to European bureaucratsand dictatorial directives from Brussels to excuse theirown legislative agenda: the consequences of policieswould be entirely on Westminster ministers’ heads.Which party would see sense in putting farmers in suchan uncompetitive position? What administration wouldwant to be known as the government that killed Britishfarming, abandoned the countryside and ensured Britainwould be dependent on cheap foreign food imports?Surely both UKIP and the Tories, with large countrysideand home counties interests, would find a way to justifysubsidy and relaxation. Labour would see that farmingjobs have been dropping for years and prop them up. TheLiberal Democrats and Greens would see the importanceof maintaining the green belt and farm ownership, andlikewise support the sector, albeit with environmentalrequirements. The alternative is to see farmers go out ofbusiness and sell portions of their land to developers.Access to labourDr Clark noted a silver lining in the worst case scenario,based on current experience of the ‘Seasonal AgriculturalWorkers Scheme’:‘If the EU didn’t place restrictions on where we couldsource labour, then we would be looking for labour much morewidely, outside the EU, to countries that have got students andseasonal workers who’d be prepared to move in and fill thatrequirement... In the past it was Commonwealth, you know wegot lots of Australians, lots of New Zealanders, lots of Africans,Indians would fill that role. Now of course, they can’t.’This very much chimes with the hopes of someEurosceptic groups such as The Freedom Association and· 23 ·