Liz Truss accused of snubbing farmers for refusing to attend rural roundups

Liz Truss has been accused of snubbing farmers after she refused to attend election campaigns organized by the National Farmers Union.

His leadership rival, Rishi Sunak, is due to address National Farmers Union members on Friday, but despite pleas from the NFU president, Truss refused to speak. attend.

The Foreign Secretary was likely to have been questioned on Wednesday over accusations by Environment Secretary George Eustice that she refused to list the animal welfare standards in trade agreements.

NFU President Minette Batters said it was "a pity" that Truss did not want to attend the hustings, adding: "That doesn't bode well - George Eustice commented - you'd think she'd want to put her marker down."

UK farmers felt undermined by post-Brexit trade deals with other countries, which have threatened to keep farming abroad at lower standards than farmers at home are forced to meet.

New Zealand farmers have been delighted with the trade deal signed by Truss, with a recent New Zealand news report describing UK farmers as "sacrificial lambs", due to agreed non-tariff imports by agreement. He explained how the UK's less intensive farming methods could mean they would soon be overtaken by New Zealand.

Truss' team said that she "can't turn to everything" and was making an effort to speak to tens of thousands of Tory members across the UK.

However, Batters said the recent drought and cost of living crisis meant it was more important than ever for Truss to speak to farmers. She hoped that even if Truss missed the roundups on Friday, she would meet with farmers in the coming weeks to discuss rural policy.

She said, "I I've offered to meet her everywhere. I've offered to do it virtually, we're not tied to any place or anything. But that doesn't seem likely. That's disappointing, because it's not just about agriculture – food is such a critical topic, water is so critical for everyone, especially right now -spacefinder-role="richLink" data-spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement" class="dcr-1mfia18"/>

Sunak is expected to expose its agriculture to NFU members, and its team said protecting UK farmers in trade deals would be at the forefront of each of his policies. They said he would "support farmers in all future trade deals with the UK, by taking the time to get the trade deals done, rather than rushing them to meet artificial deadlines that he has imposed on himself", which could be interpreted as a sharp blow to his opponent. /p>

He also promised to maintain and boost domestic food production through a UK food security target, and to introduce a "buy local" target for the public sector, giving priority to British products over imports.

He has however been criticized by environmental activists for promising to "protect" the land from solar panels and reseeding.