GOVERNMENT BANKRUPTING FARMERS RISKS LAKE DISTRICT LOSING WORLD HERITAGE STATUS – MP TELLS PARLIAMENT

This week, in a debate in Westminster Hall, Tim Farron issued a warning that the Lake District is at risk of losing its UNESCO World Heritage Status because of the Government's treatment of farmers.

Tim said the greatest risk to the status was because of the Government's poor handling of the transition for farmers from the Common Agricultural Policy to the new Environmental Land Management Scheme.

Speaking during the debate, Tim said: "Last time I checked, not very long ago, a grand total of 27 of the 1,000 farmers in my constituency alone - there are many more in the broader Lake District - had signed up to the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.

"What will the farmers outside the new environmental schemes do? I suggest they will either go broke or go backwards.

"Many will go out of farming altogether, which means our landscape will rapidly change, damaging both the environment and our tourism economy, or they will go backwards".

Tim used Liverpool as an example of the very real risk of world heritage status being removed - the city lost the status in 2021. Tim said: "World Heritage Site status was tragically and sadly lost by Liverpool just two years ago, a reminder that all of us can lose this precious status.

"I ask the Government to take the action needed to protect World Heritage Site status for our wonderful communities in the Lake District."