A British farmer has launched a scathing attack on Andy Burnham after announcing a £65million support package to help the industry amid a record-breaking dry spell.
Speaking to GB News, Gareth Wyn Jones declared the Prime Minister’s pledge is “a little bit too late” as farmers continue to struggle both financially and amid the driest July on record.
Following a Cobra meeting this week, Mr Burnham has given £65million in funding for drought and extreme heat issues that are taking toll on crops and livestock.
The new package follows the driest July on record in England and Wales, with money to help farms cope now and invest in measures including reservoirs to protect against future droughts.
The Prime Minister says farmers “shouldn’t carry the risks of a changing climate alone” with the Government increasingly treating the resilience of British farming as “a question of national food security”.
Reacting to the package, Mr Wyn Jones told GB News it is “not a lot of money” to support all farmers across the country.
He said: “I wouldn’t say it’s a lot of money, to be honest with you. And again, a little bit too late.
“We got that alert last night, and we’ve been having wildfires for three months on these mountains. It’s, bonkers, absolutely bonkers.”
The farmer made clear the Government should be “procuring British products” in all public services across the nation.
He stressed: “We need to be looking at definitely securing our food system in this country. The British Government, in schools, hospitals, and everywhere they can, should be procuring British meat, British milk, British cereals. Everything should be British.
“And we should be getting a fair price for what we’re producing. £65 million, it’s the tip of the iceberg for the problems we got.”
Criticising successive Governments in tackling these issue, Mr Wyn Jones argued that they are “always too late” to a problem before “pulling their socks up”.
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He explained: “I think we’ve got to ask our water companies as well. We’ve got a massive lake up here called Llyn Anafon, which used to supply all this village, and Welsh Water has depleted that. They haven’t maintained it.
“Now they say the dam’s not good enough to protect it, so there’s a lot of things that could have been done by previous Governments, and this government need to make sure water is stored for our drier months.
“This is why I think they’re always too late in the game, and we’re going to go hungry and dry before they can pull up their socks, to be honest.”
Asked by host Dawn Neesom how difficult this summer has been for him and his farm, Mr Wyn Jones admitted it has been “really difficult” to cope.
He told GB News: “It’s been difficult, I ain’t gonna lie to you. We’ve lost a lot of land to fires up here, about three, four weeks ago, with a massive fire on the countryside. We’ve had another couple over here.
“We’ve been carrying water to our animals in some of the fields that have dried off. It’s not easy, not going to lie to you, but, you know, we get on with it. Our job is to produce food to feed the nation, and all we need is the support.”
He continued: “I’ve got to thank the general public because they’ve been supportive, since day dot they’ve got behind us. The sad thing is that we’ve got crazy policies coming from governments all over the world to reduce the number of livestock, they’re saying that livestock is the biggest problem within the so-called climate crisis.
“Well, I disagree. If we started grazing them uplands a bit better, get sheep and ponies and cattle on there, we wouldn’t have these wildfires. All these problems have been produced by policies from governments, and we have to address it.”
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