Farmers once again lined up along the promenade in Llandudno in the latest protest against UK and Welsh Government policies. Farm vehicles and tractors were lined up as Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a speech to Welsh Labour members at the party’s conference in Llandudno.
It is the latest protest – the first was when then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Llandudno. Keir Starmer has now faced two equivalent protests on visits to Llandudno and there have been events in Cardiff Bay, the largest of which took place at the Senedd.
Alan Hughes farms on the Shropshire Powys border between England and Wales. He said the protest was farmers having to take extreme measures to keep their farms afloat. “At the moment we’re being forced to take second jobs to stay afloat to afford to produce food for the public at a loss. We can’t continue to do this. Supermarket prices are going through the roof but in the last month since the EU trade deal the price of beef has dropped by £1 a kilo, that’s a sixth. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
“We’re pretty much on break even now,” he said.
He is having to work two other jobs, in engineering, he said to cover the household bills. He said he blames both UK and Welsh Governments. “Both their policies are driving us bust,” the beef and sheep farmer said.
Swansea farmer Liam Payne is one of the organisers of previous protests. The core issues haven’t changed, he said, saying “there are new problems being added to it”.
“Sixteen months ago we organised the Senedd protest, that was about TB testing, NVZ zones and TB. They’re all still here. Then the Westminster government came in and put the inheritance tax on us, and two weeks ago, Huw Irranca-Davies [the Welsh rural affairs minister] put bluetongue zone which is going to affect all breeding stock sales on the borders.”
The Welsh Government say its introduction of restrictions will keep the disease at bay for as long as possible, but it cannot keep the disease out forever.
Liam said: “We ourselves go to Scotland to buy rams every year and we won’t be able to do that this year, and that means creating a smaller gene pool of breeding because we can only buy within Wales.”
There is no idea how long the restrictions will be in place, he said.
