DEFRA Minister for Sustainable Farming and Food, Lord Rooker has agreed to visit a hill farm in Westmorland and Lonsdale after being invited by the area's MP, Tim Farron. Mr Farron is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming and is keen for the Minister to witness first hand the effects of the foot and mouth outbreak this summer.
Local MP Tim Farron, who is a spokesman for the Liberal Democrats on Home Affairs, attended a packed conference organised by the Brathay Hall Trust on gang culture in the UK. The conference sought to assess what is and isn't working in the effort to curb violent crime in Britain.
Local MP Tim Farron has called for fair fares in South Lakeland. Government policy means that South Lakeland tax-payers are forced to subsidise visitors using bus services, but don't get the same free transport access that is available to other areas.
Local MP Tim Farron has today tabled a parliamentary question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer that it is hoped will help clarify the future of the HMRC office in Kendal. It has become clear that other areas are seeing a 'rationalisation' in HMRC offices, meaning that smaller offices are being amalgamated into bigger, regional offices. The office in Kendal is staffed by around 40 people, and those people could face having to move to Carlisle or Preston or lose their job completely.
Local MP Tim Farron has today been made aware of yet more evidence of maladministration at DEFRA concerning under-payment of the Hill Farm Allowance top-up, announced last month by Secretary of State Hilary Benn. Mr Benn announced that around £12m had been set aside to assist farmers who had lost out as a result of the foot and mouth outbreak this year. For HFA recipients, this top-up had been earmarked as 32% of their HFA payment. However Tim Farron has learned that one farmer who has been underpaid in his HFA payment would receive 32% of their incorrect payment, rather than 32% of the higher sum.
Local MP Tim Farron has today given his backing to the announcement from the Food and Drink Federation to make a 13.5% cut in product packaging by 2010. Mr Farron will table a parliamentary motion in support of the announcement, but also warns that further cuts are needed if the challenge of climate change is to be fully confronted.