Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been scolded for snubbing farmers and agriculture in Wednesday's spending review, as farmer Andrew Ward stressed that the industry is "already suffering".Laying out her economic plan in the Commons on Wednesday, Reeves announced a U-turn on the Winter Fuel Payments alongside an extra £29billion for the NHS.FULL STORY HERE.
00:00And this event is all about, you know, the current state of arable farming, you know, across the UK and really with people from international as well, but also about the future of arable farming.
00:09And of course, you know, farmers, you know, with the tight situation financially that they're in a lot of the time, making sure they can get every bit of yield out of out of a field.
00:17You know, you can see around the beautiful tractors and all the equipment.
00:20And of course, we're joined by one GB News' favourite farmers this morning, Andrew Ward, who's a farm we're on this morning.
00:25Andrew, the government spending review yesterday, they're saying they're putting £2.7 billion more a year into farming and things like the land management schemes.
00:34What was your reaction to that spending review? Because still also as well, no changes looking like anything happening on inheritance tax.
00:42This is exactly the problem that we've got, that the government say they are supportive of agriculture.
00:47They want to have dialogue with us, but they're not doing that.
00:50I think one of the biggest telling things is in her actual statement yesterday, she didn't mention food or farming.
00:59She didn't mention agriculture, not once.
01:02So therefore, surely if she's going to support us, that needs mentioning.
01:06But overall, when you start to look at the massive cut that there is, there is a cut.
01:10So don't let's forget this. There is going to be a cut.
01:16And when we've had the spending review just being announced, we don't want to have cuts because at the end of the day, the industry is on its knees and we need supporting.
01:25We need to have our food grown in this country, not import more food from abroad.
01:29And when you start to look at nature recovery, they're saying they're going to give more money into nature recovery.
01:34We've got to grow food in this country.
01:36But overall, there is a budget cut.
01:38We must not forget that.
01:40And when we start to look at what we've got here today, we're at the Seals event here today and we need confidence in the industry and we haven't got that.
01:46Do you feel like farmers, because obviously this started yesterday, there's been thousands of farmers here.
01:50You know, we can see at the moment on screen, all of these farmers and different bits of equipment and things like that.
01:55The farmers that you've spoken to that have been at this event, you know, yesterday and coming today as well.
02:00What are they saying to you?
02:01Are they feeling like this government is taking food security seriously?
02:05No, all the farmers you speak to here, they are saying they're not taking it seriously at all.
02:12And when you look at the way that we've already had a budget cut, you know, they're saying that they gave the biggest budget ever to agriculture when it was announced in October of £5 billion over two years.
02:24Then they go and cut the D-Link payments by 76%.
02:27So they're actually giving less to agriculture than have done for years.
02:31And this comes across at a show like this today.
02:33We have got farmers that are, I've spoken to quite a few farmers today, so they can't carry on, that they're splitting the farm up.
02:40They're going to be doing something else.
02:41They're selling the farm because it's not just worth getting out of bed to produce food at a loss, because that's what we're doing at the moment.
02:48All right, Andrew Wall, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
02:50We're speaking to Andrew and all the farmers here throughout the day, you know, to get their reaction to that spending review and how they're feeling, as I said, with no changes announced on inheritance tax.