Speeches by Zeichner.

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Free-Range Egg Marketing Standards (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024. It is Wednesday morning, so we must be here again, Mrs Harris. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 21 November 2024, and …”

“I am grateful for the contributions made by Members and for the support of the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley, whose positive response I welcome. This is important work, and a sensible approach is being taken. I also hear the points made by the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim.…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Official Controls (Amendment) Regulations 2024. It is always a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Harris. I wish you and all Members and officials present a happy new year. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 19 November. As I am sure …”

“I am grateful for the points made by the hon. and learned Member. He will appreciate that we are trying to resolve a complicated set of circumstances and make them work. These measures are a genuine attempt to make the system work for everybody’s benefit. I appreciate the complex issues that he raises, but I do not bel…”

“Mr Speaker, I wish you and all your staff a happy Christmas, and thank all those who work in our food system for ensuring that we are fed every day and that, particularly at this time of the year, so many of our constituents can enjoy a traditional, wonderful British celebration. The autumn Budget on 30 October confirm…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his suggestion. I am a great admirer of the Allerton project and have been meaning to visit it for a long time. My officials are working on a visit, and I am really looking forward to engaging with those people, because they do great work.”

“We are absolutely determined to ensure that we see more British produce bought across our public sector. We will come to the House with our plans in due course.”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It was extraordinary, was it not, that the last Government managed not to spend £300 million of the farm budget. We are determined to ensure that we do better. I wish him and his farmers a very merry Christmas.”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his points and refer him to my earlier comments: we see more and more pressure, and there are so many things we need to do on our land to house and feed people, so it is important that we have a proper structure in place. It is widely acknowledged that the current planning system does not…”

“The point that farmers need to get a better return from their business is well made, and that is exactly what this Government will be addressing.”

“We all know that food security is national security, and most of us also recognise that the impacts of climate change and nature loss pose a significant risk to domestic production, so it is very important that we use our land carefully. Consequently, the Government will be introducing a land use framework to ensure th…”

“We are in constant dialogue with our MHCLG colleagues. I was delighted that areas with a significant rural population will on average receive about a 5% increase in their core spending power. That is a real-terms increase. I hope we can continue to work well to address the rural productivity gap of some 18%, which is a…”

“Opposition Members have had a lot of time to make their points. I am going to make mine. Would Conservative Members have been so interested during the last Parliament? I remember sitting on those Opposition Benches hour after hour on the rare occasions when there were rural debates. They had no interest then; suddenly …”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to close this debate on the planned reforms to agricultural property relief. It has been important to hear from people on all sides of the debate and to outline the steps that the Government have taken to reach the decision on agricultural property relief. The reforms to APR are just o…”

“No. I am afraid that the right hon. Gentleman came in late, and if you turn up late, you do not get to speak. [Interruption.] I recognise the frustration and anxiety being felt by farmers around the country. [Interruption.]”

“I hear and respect the point that the hon. Gentleman is making, but I gently point out to him that the country is in an economic mess and we can only spend the money that we have. That point will be reiterated in debate after debate. Every part of our rural economy, indeed every part of our country, needs a sound econo…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am not sure that Conservative Members do want to listen, really. As a result of the anxiety that we know people are feeling, it is right that the Prime Minister, the Environment Secretary and I have all met with the NFU president Tom Bradshaw to talk about the proposed reforms. The Go…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I very much enjoyed meeting Minister Muir a few months before the election, when I was the shadow Minister. Interestingly, it was bovine TB that was being discussed in the Assembly that very day. I absolutely take the hon. Gentleman’s point. I am keen to visit. …”

“I absolutely share the hon. Gentleman’s concerns. We are working closely with the Port Health Authority to make sure that everything that needs to be done can be done. As I was saying, we exercise our plans regularly and work closely with stakeholders on their preparedness. The ongoing response to bluetongue and highly…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dame Siobhain. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough), not just for securing this important debate—and for winning South Norfolk, which is very precious to me—but for his continued commitment to championing our agriculture sector. East Ang…”