Last week Starmer defended government projects funding agriculture abroad to the tune of over £500 million while taxing UK farmers’ estates for the same sum – enough to pay for two Covid Inquiries and an HS2 bat shed. At the same time Labour is committing tens of millions more to fund food projects abroad…
Development Minister Anneliese Dodds snuck out an announcement late last week committing the government to another £70 million of taxpayer funding to “tackle global food insecurity.” A new project run by Brazil’s socialist president Lula, the UK’s contribution to the “Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty” includes £50 million for a “Resilience and Adaptation Fund” which “harnesses climate finance” to fund food projects in Ethiopia, Chad, and Bangladesh. An extra £25.5 million – on top of £30 million announced in September – is also going to “small agribusinesses in Africa and Asia,” which the FCDO boasts is “boosting the incomes of smallholder farmers and helping the agriculture sector adapt to climate change.” Meanwhile Reeves tells British farmers they have to sell up to pay tax for the NHS…
A government spokesman defended the funding: “We are committed to supporting farmers here in the UK – which is why we are investing £5 billion into farming at home over the next two years.” Farmers may care less about another subsidy than they do about actually keeping their livelihoods…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”