MP invites Government officials to visit Cumbria after ‘we don’t need farmers’ comments

Local MP Tim Farron is challenging Government officials to visit farms in Cumbria after a senior advisor claimed that the country doesn't need farmers.

At the weekend, the Mail on Sunday reported that Dr Tim Leunig is understood to have said the food sector was "not critically important" to the country's economy - and that agriculture and fisheries "certainly isn't".

Tim, who is the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming, said: "As outrageously stupid as the comments are, it sadly comes as no surprise that this is the view of people in Whitehall.

"I challenge Government officials to get out of their offices in London, don their wellies and come up to Cumbria for the day to see the amazing work that our local hard-working farmers do in producing the food to feed our country and looking after our world class landscape in the Lake District."