Farron welcomes war on red tape for farmers

South Lakes MP, Tim Farron, has welcomed the recent report by Richard MacDonald which was aimed at finding ways to reduce the amount of red tape faced by farmers.

Richard Macdonald's Farming Regulation Task Force report was presented to DEFRA last week, and has been welcomed throughout the industry. It details 214 recommendations on how to reduce the burden of food safety and environmental regulations on farmers and food producers. The report, which has been welcomed across the farming industry, focuses on ways to reduce the regulatory burdens that farmers have had to deal with for so long, without undermining high environmental and animal welfare standards.

Many rules that were brought in to deal with the foot and mouth emergency, for example the six day movement rule, are not needed during 'peace time' such as this and are a huge burden on local farmers.

Commenting on the report, Tim said: "This is good news for farming in the South Lakes. For many of our local hill farmers, who earn less than £6,000 a year and therefore rely on the uplands payment scheme, the unnecessary red tape that surrounds the industry has been a massive burden for many years.

"This report is ambitious, but is exactly what we need to help support our farmers and the industry as a whole. I am extremely glad that the government commissioned this review and I hope that they will stick with it and ensure it is taken up across Whitehall and actually implemented, not just stuck on a shelf and forgotten about."