NFU dismayed at Darling's CAP letter

The NFU is dismayed by Chancellor Alistair Darling’s letter to other EU finance ministers on the Common Agricultural Policy.

Leaving aside the limited merits of the argument, NFU President Peter Kendall described the letter as “badly timed and tactically inept”.

He said: “We’ve been assured that the British government would negotiate for a constructive evolution of the CAP in the upcoming Health Check, yet this letter is effectively calling for the CAP to be scrapped. Equally, it is one thing for the Chancellor to call for a conclusion of the WTO talks, but quite another for him to call for the abolition of all tariffs at a critical stage of the negotiations.”

Mr Kendall recalled that the NFU had criticised the Government’s ‘Vision for the CAP’ in 2005 as more likely to antagonise than to persuade other members states, and so it had proved.

“All the indications are that this letter will irritate others in Europe and be counter-productive to the Government’s wish to see constructive progress on agriculture and trade,” he said.


-ends-

NFU, Agriculture House, Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, CV8 2TZ
Press Officer: Chris Pryke
Telephone: 024 7685 8686 FAX: 024 7685 8651 ISDN: 02476 416289

Http://www.nfuonline.com

The NFU champions British farming and provides professional representation and services to its farmer and grower members.