This article was originally published in the County Times, 7 December 2024, and can be found here.

As a rural MP, advocating for farming will always be one of my top priorities in Parliament. In this column, I want to share with readers how I have been supporting Montgomeryshire farmers.

During the election campaign, I consistently pledged to support our farmers. At a hustings at the Welshpool Livestock Market, I made clear that I did not support changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR). Ahead of the Budget, I wrote to the Chancellor stating this and urging her to invest in the farming sector. I also wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs following the Budget, relaying constituents’ concerns.

I have steadfastly advocated for farmers in Parliament. Agriculture is the topic I have spoken the most on, with over a quarter of my speaking opportunities dedicated to farming since my election. I have attended every DEFRA Question and every Urgent Question on agriculture in the Chamber and am a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Farming.

In early October, I spoke out in the opposition day debate on farming, condemning the Conservative’s dodgy trade deals with Australia and New Zealand that badly undermined the sector. In my speech on the Budget in November, I highlighted the importance of food security and welcomed the record investments that the Labour government has put into farming – £5 billion over two years. Labour is forecast to increase capital grants to farmers by 49% more this year than in 2023/24 and by 125% more compared to 2022/23.

After meeting several dozen farming constituents during the protest in Westminster on 19 November, I publicly called on the Treasury to publish its modelling on the APR policy in The Telegraph.

I have met with NFU Cymru and the FUW regularly since becoming a candidate. Following the Budget, I have been working to keep open lines of communication between farming representatives and the government. This week, I wrote to the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Private Secretary asking for a meeting between him and the FUW, representing approximately half of Welsh farmers.

An increasingly disrupted world and a changing climate are two great challenges that cannot be met without working with the farmers that steward the countryside and grow over 62% of the food we consume. Food security is national security. I thank constituents for getting in touch with me and look forward to continuing to help shape the debate on rural issues.