Labour issues plea for Agriculture Bill to return to Parliament for amendment

Shadow Defra Secretary Sue Hayman described the Bill as a ‘missed opportunity’ which does not provide the security of a long-term budget for farming or assurances that UK farmers will not be undercut by cheap imports when post-Brexit trade deals are signed.

The call for Ministers to bring the legislation back comes shortly after NFU president Minette Batters warned it would not be passed until ‘summer or potentially autumn’.

Defra Secretary Michael Gove has since told a House of Lords Committee the Bill is ‘stacked above the landing zone’ waiting for the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement to get through Parliament.

Writing exclusively for Farmers Guardian’s Brexit hub, Ms Hayman said: “It is now nearly five months since the Government’s Agriculture Bill finished its final committee session in the House of Commons… but there is still no sign of it returning to Parliament to resume the process of legislative scrutiny.