A farming campaigner said the government has negotiated “the worst” post-Brexit trade deals which “slaughter” farmers.
More than 120 tractors drove past the Houses of Parliament on Monday evening as part of a go-slow protest over Westminster’s lacklustre support for the farming industry.
Organised by Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers of Kent, the protesters said government policies were putting UK food security in jeopardy.
Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, told BBC News: “We’re here because farmers in Britain have been taken for granted for too long.
“And in the last few years in particular, farmers are unable to feed the British people.
“More and more imports are being brought in using standards which are illegal here. They are putting us out of business.
“That’s why we’re here, we’re fighting back. We believe the British people want us to feed them.”
When the reporter noted that the government says it puts farming “at the heart of British trade”, Webster replied: “Yeah, they said there were no parties, too. They’re not telling the truth.”
Webster was referring to the headline-grabbing saga of partygate, where officials and politicians repeatedly broke the government’s own lockdown rules at the height of the Covid pandemic – and then denied it, until there was a police investigation.
It led to fines for then-PM Boris Johnson and current PM Rishi Sunak.
She continued: “They negotiated trade deals which literally see us slaughtered. They’re the worst trade deals in the world – even George Eustice confirmed it.”
Eustice was the environment, food and rural affairs secretary between 2020 and 2022.
After leaving the role, he told the Commons that the Australia trade deal “was not actually a very good trade deal”, and that the UK gave “away far too much for far too much little in return.”
Last night, Webster added: “We have been totally let down by this government and we’re demanding change.
“This is the beginning, this is going to go on – because farmers are committed to farming and making food. And, as you can see, they’re passionate about it.”
She concluded: “There’s more of us than there are MPs.”