Extract from Delegated Legislation committee consideration of the Environment and Rural Affairs (Miscellaneous Revocations) Order 2018 - Oct 22
Tuesday, 23 October 2018 07:30
Dr David Drew (Stroud) (Lab/Co-op) We differ from the Government on
the issue and will continue to do so when we debate the Agriculture
Bill, so I am not going to rehearse those arguments in detail now.
There was quite a debate on Second Reading in relation to some of
the proposals in the Bill about how poorly England has done.
Scotland and Northern Ireland still have parts of the Agricultural
Wages Board and, of course, Wales has its own code. In England, we
have nothing. I gather that about...Request free trial
We differ from the Government on the issue and will continue
to do so when we debate the Agriculture Bill, so I am not going to
rehearse those arguments in detail now. There was quite a debate on
Second Reading in relation to some of the proposals in the Bill
about how poorly England has done. Scotland and Northern Ireland
still have parts of the Agricultural Wages Board and, of course,
Wales has its own code. In England, we have nothing. I gather that
about 60% of farmers—this is not necessarily the view of
the National Farmers Union, with which we will agree
to disagree—said in their submissions that at the time of the
Government’s decision to get rid of the Agricultural Wages Board,
they were worried about how negotiations would take place. All the
evidence suggests that wage levels have fallen in the agricultural
sector, so it is difficult to recruit the people we desperately
need, whether to pick fruit and vegetables, look after our dairy
cows or do more general work. There is a crisis, which we all know
about, and one way to put that crisis behind us is to ensure that
we fund those workers properly—sadly, that is not currently the
case...
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