Rachael Maskell MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, commenting on new figures on the financial burdens of English farming businesses, said:

“With more farmers struggling under crushing debts, and a fifth struggling even to pay their bills, the Government must act now to prevent thousands of these businesses from going to the wall.

“Yet more than six months after the EU referendum we’ve had nothing but complacency from Andrea Leadsom. We’ve had no answers on a replacement for CAP, no answers on EU market access and no answers on the seasonal labour that keeps so many farms viable.

“It’s time for the Tories to end the complacency and start coming up with the solutions British farmers need.”