SIR Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was at a strawberry farm in Somerset on August 26 to highlight the importance of farming in the county.
Alongside Tessa Munt, MP for Wells and the Mendip Hills, the pair picked strawberries at Warren's Farm Shop near Cheddar and discussed the value of British farming.
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Speaking about the visit, Sir Ed said: "Tessa has been a longstanding friend for many, many years and a great campaigner and I was delighted when she had such a great election result last July.
"It’s a bit of a farming focus visit, because Tessa is championing local farmers and with the family farm tax, inheritance tax changes being so damaging, and the Conservatives having let farmers down, we want people to us as their natural champions.”
The pair later visited two further farms, including Monaghan Mushrooms at Langford and Thatcher's Cider at Winscombe.
The visit came as the Liberal Democrats urged the government to set up a new Farming Innovation, Exchange, Learning and Development (FIELD) Fund to help farmers share know-how, navigate environmental farming schemes and improve their business viability.
Speaking about his visit to Somerset, Sir Ed recalled how when he first joined the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown was leader and he would visit as Somerset "was always in our blood." He added: "I think we’ve been a party of the country for many years.”
The Liberal Democrats hold six of the seven parliamentary seats available in Somerset and are the third-largest party in Parliament. The 2024 general Election in July saw the party take a record 72 seats.
The visit to Somerset was organised by Tessa Munt, who said she was "very keen" that her party's leader came down to see a variety of farming that happens in the county.
"Cheddar of course is absolutely famous for its strawberries, and they are the best, there’s no question, they are just fantastic. I know the Warren’s, my partner was at Scouts with Graham Warren, who is Josh’s dad [current owner of the farm shop]. So I wanted Ed to be able to see how this works, because it is also very different from other parts of the country.”
Speaking specifically about farming in Somerset, Munt said: "There’s stuff that we do so well, so excellently here, that I just think that we need to publicise it a bit more. And try and stop the government from doing daft things, such as stopping the fruit and veg scheme. They don’t understand the impact of what they are doing.”
It was recently confirmed that the The Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme, which is an EU legacy scheme, will close in England on 1 January 2026. The government has said that only 20 per cent of growers benefit from it, while the remaining 80 per cent receive no benefit at all.
It's one of a number of schemes and policies initiated by the Labour government that the Liberal Democrats feel is penalising farmers in Somerset, particularly in rural areas. Other such examples include the changes to Inheritance Tax, dubbed the 'family farm tax'.
Asked whether rural areas are genuinely being listened to by the government, Munt responded: "Not really, no. The reason is I don’t think they understand rural areas. I really seriously think they’ve got a block on how it works.”
It's a view echoed by Sir Ed Davey, who believes that rural areas and farming are "way too low on the government’s agenda."
"We’ve seen that with a whole range of policies, and Liberal Democrats are fighting in Parliament to turn that around. I’m delighted to say we have a whole range of MPs who represent rural areas in England, but also in Scotland and Wales."
"We see a really good future for farming if we had different policies. And in a country like ours, where we have the ability to grow far more food and to ensure our own food security, it should be a priority", he added.
Along with six MPs in Somerset, the Liberal Democrats also have control of Somerset Council. In April, the administration voted to increase Council Tax by 7.5 per cent - one of the highest percentages in the South West.
Asked about his party's position is on Council Tax, Sir Ed said: "Councils across the country, no matter who are running them, are facing dire circumstances.
"A number of councils have gone bankrupt, and I think the long-term cause is frankly the Conservative government, as well as Conservative councils, who underfunded social care for so long and also SEND provision for children and young people.
“What Liberal Democrats are doing nationally is saying ‘we need to reform social care’, and ‘we need to reform SEND’, so that they are better run and better resourced", he ended.
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