Liz trying to spend a day talking about rural affairs was never going to be taken lying down by Rishi, given he’s made it a huge part of his political brand. A new attack line just put out by Rishi’s team once again drags the contest down into the mud:

“Liz Truss’ announcement today does nothing for farmers and food. She blames Brexit and fails to see the opportunities from it to help farmers and food production, has no plan to tackle inflation which has hit input costs hard, and neglects to mention trade deals because of her record in this area. The true Remainer colours are starting to show.”

The ambiguous attack seems to be levelled at her plan to allow thousands more foreign workers to be allowed into UK to temporarily take up agricultural jobs, as part of an expansion of the seasonal workers’ scheme. Not sure what his solution is since long term everyone accepts this will require agri-tech robot solutions, meantime his press release says “Rishi has committed to keep labour requirements in the sector under review” – which is surely code for allowing seasonal workers in.