Local MP Tim Farron will meet today with representatives from the Freedom for Pubs Association as part of his fight for a fairer deal for pub landlords who are finding themselves increasingly indebted, sometimes to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds, to the large pub chains.
Local MP Tim Farron expressed his concern today that farmers and other small businesses will suffer from new taxation plans being introduced by the Government. The Government hopes to raise £200 million a year by preventing income shifting within family-run companies.
Local MP Tim Farron met with representatives of Sarah Nelson Grasmere Gingerbread today, to discuss their aim to trademark 'Grasmere Gingerbread,' removing the right of other Grasmere Gingerbread producers to make use of that name.
Local MP Tim Farron today met with Jim Begg, Director General of Dairy UK, to press the cause for dairy farmers in Cumbria and nationwide. Tim had a constructive meeting in which he took the side of local dairy farmers who are facing huge increased costs as a result of the Government's Nitrate Vulnerable Zones policy and rising animal feed and fuel prices. He also followed up on his parliamentary motion earlier in the week noting the reduction of the number of dairy farms in the UK and the role played in this by the supermarkets.
Local MP Tim Farron today questioned the Housing Minister Caroline Flint over the crippling lack of affordable housing available for rural areas. In constituencies such as Mr Farron's, where average house prices are around ten times the average wage - an eye-watering £210,000, first-time buyers find it almost impossible to get on the housing ladder.
Tim Farron MP, the Liberal Democrat Countryside Spokesman, today spoke out against the paltry rise in the DEFRA budget of just 1.4% (after inflation). This small increase has come in spite of the Government committing several hundred million pounds to flood defences and renewable energy sources.