Bench Across Britain: Farming community calls for ‘more support’ and quashes subsidies ‘misperception’
The Cheshire Show is a world away from Westminster – but amid the agriculture machinery displays, the pony club races and pens with the best of British livestock, we have smuggled our unwieldy parliamentary bench to an industry at the mercy of changing weather and politics.
On the seat of power in a sheep pen in a far corner of the show, Ruth Howard, a ruminant nutritionist, laments the rising price of animal food. “Over the last two years in particular we’ve seen massive increases,” she says.
“I would say about two or three years ago our price for a compound feed would be about £200 a tonne. Last winter we saw them rocket to £400.
“Our motto is that we feed the animals that feed the nation, and we need support to be able to do that.
“The subsidies that are out there have helped soften the blow to the housewife in your shopping basket. Without that and without the support behind agriculture, the cost of living crisis will only get worse.”
Cow and sheep nutritionist Ruth Howard and sheep farmer Richard Gate
The agricultural budget is a common theme of conversation. Sheep farmer Richard Gate says: “Subsidies are given to us and there’s a misperception that it’s to the farmer and it is not. It is to help the farmers produce cheaper food for the general public.”
Responding to the launch of party manifestos, the National Farmers Union (NFU) has expressed concern that while the Conservative Party has committed to increasing the farming budget by £1bn over the course of the next parliament, the Labour Party is yet to give a clear commitment to a budget.
Rachel Hallos, vice president of the NFU, told Sky News: “That does concern us. We need to know what sort of budget is going to be allocated to farming.
“It’s as simple as that. I think the devil is in the detail and there doesn’t seem to be overly amounts of detail.”
National Farmers Union vice president Rachel Hallos
Labour do say in their manifesto that “food security is national security” and promise to “champion British farming”, with a target for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be sourced locally.
At the Cheshire Show, we meet dairy farmer Ray Brown who has recently spoken to both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. He was impressed with their understanding of the issues.
Dairy farmer Ray Brown (centre) with colleagues
“We’re very, very reliant on imported food,” he said. “And we only need to look at the recent events around the world. It’s made us surely think about food security.”
He warns that some environmental schemes linked to government payments to farmers are forcing them to stop using good farming land.
Mr Brown says: “The main problem is the government thinking through the policies they’re bringing out, making sure that we can firstly feed everybody and bring environmental schemes out that make sense, use areas which we can’t grow food on, rather than letting land go, which is prime land for producing food.”
Andrew Dutton, from Cheshire Farm Machinery, says his sales are down this year due to the wet spring that has dulled crop and produce yields. He says farmers are lacking confidence to invest.
“We need more support for our farmers. We need to back British farming. We need to buy locally, buy British. The farmers need some confidence going forward that they’re going to receive the funding that they need.”
Andrew Dutton, Cheshire Farm Machinery
Held in Tatton, the Cheshire Show sits in a safe Conservative constituency once held by chancellor George Osborne. The red rosettes on the prize bulls are unlikely to be worn by winners in this constituency on election night, but there’s uncertainty.
Mr Dutton says: “I’m still on the bench really?”
He taps the green cushions on our House of Commons chair. “Personally, I voted Conservative my whole life. But no one’s offering what I want at the moment.”
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A passing woman in jodhpurs says “I’m voting Reform, and a lot of my friends are voting Reform”, but she decides not to take a seat to tell us more.
We do, however, manage to speak to two horsemen fresh from jousting, dressed as knights, in the main arena. Both come from rural, Conservative-held seats in the Midlands. Clutching an axe, Sam Conway from Knights of Nottingham says he traditionally votes Conservative but wants “clarity and honesty”.
He adds: “I don’t feel like I’ve had any of that so far. I don’t feel like anyone’s come out with some clear policies. We see a lot of political jousting.”
Sam Conway and Mark Lacey, jousters for the Knights of Nottingham
Sam’s fellow knight Mark Lacey leans forward on his broadsword and adds: “It’s just time for a change, and let’s see what happens. And I’m happy for it to change.
“I’ve lived in a blue area my whole life, but let’s have a change. Let’s see what somebody else does.”
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On our journey across Britain – to Cornwall, Gloucester, Luton, Southall, Kent, Leicester and now Cheshire – there is a lot of indecision. Shy Tories seem extremely shy while Labour voters question whether their vote will bring the changes they want.
The farming community certainly wants more assurances from Starmer, but it also feels like this area, which is not usually an election battleground for Labour, is open to some form of change. And if Labour can capture a seat like Tatton, it would be a killer blow to the heart of their rivals.
Ex-Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry has defected to Reform, in the latest blow to the Conservatives.
The former MP for Rossendale and Darwen, who served as Northern Powerhouse minister under Boris Johnson and lost his seat last year, said he had defected to Nigel Farage’s party because the Tories had “lost their way”.
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Reform UK confirmed the defection to Sky News, which was first broken by The Sun.
Speaking to the paper, Sir Jake said Mr Farage’s party was the “last chance to pull Britain back from terminal decline”.
“Our streets are completely lawless,” he said.
“Migration is out of control. Taxes are going through the roof.
“And day after day, I hear from people in my community and beyond who say the same thing: ‘This isn’t the Britain I grew up in’.”
Sir Jake accused his former party of “abandoning the British people” but said he was not “giving up”.
“I’m staying. And I’m fighting.
“Fighting for the Britain I want my kids, and one day, my grandkids, to grow up in.”
Mr Farage welcomed what he said was “a very brave decision” by Sir Jake.
“His admission that the Conservative government he was part of broke the country is unprecedented and principled,” he added.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Reform support increasing the benefits bill by removing the two-child cap, and nationalising British industry. By contrast the Conservatives, under new leadership, will keep making the case for sound money, lower taxes and bringing the welfare bill under control.
“We wish Jake well in his new high spend, high tax party.”
Sir Jake’s defection to Reform comes just days after former Conservative cabinet minister David Jones joined Reform UK, which continues to lead in the polls.
Former Welsh secretary David Jones (R) alongside Tory MP Mark Francois. Pic: PA
Mr Jones, who was MP for Clwyd West from 2005 until standing down in 2024, said he had quit the Tories after “more than 50 years of continuous membership”.
Sir Jake was the MP Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire between 2010 and 2024, when he was defeated by Labour’s Andy MacNae.
He held several ministerial posts including in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Energy and Climate Change and the Cabinet Office.
Nigel Farage after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
Pic: Reuters
He was also chairman of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022, under Liz Truss.
Announcing his defection – which comes a year after the Tories suffered their worst ever election defeat – Sir Jake said “Britain was broken” and “the Conservative governments I was part of share the blame”.
“We now have a tax system that punishes hard work and ambition,” he said.
“Just this week, we saw record numbers of our brightest and best people leaving Britain because they can’t see a future here. At the same time, our benefits system is pulling in the world’s poor with no plan for integration and no control over who comes in.
“If you were deliberately trying to wreck the country, you’d be hard-pressed to do a better job than the last two decades of Labour and Tory rule.
“Millions of people, just like me, want a country they can be proud of again. The only way we get that is with Reform in government. That’s why I’ve resigned from the Conservative Party. I’m now backing Reform UK and working to make them the next party of government.”
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He added: “And with Nigel Farage leading Reform, we’ve got someone the country can actually trust. He doesn’t change his views to fit the mood of the day. And people respect that. So do I. That’s why I believe he should be our next prime minister.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Not content with taking advice from Liz Truss, Nigel Farage has now tempted her Tory Party chairman into his ranks.
“It’s clear Farage wants Liz Truss’s reckless economics, which crashed our economy and sent mortgages spiralling, to be Reform’s blueprint for Britain. It’s a recipe for disaster and working people would be left paying the price.”
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