Brexit lobbying by farming and fishing interests

Part of the Powerbase Brexit Portal.

Few industries will be affected by Brexit as much as the farming and fishing sectors.

The UK is expected to withdraw from the Common Agricultural Policy, but what will replace the payments going to farmers? Likewise, what will it mean to quit the Common Fisheries Policy? Will Brexit lead to EU regulations being ditched in the UK, such as on pesticides use? If the UK opens its borders to low-cost food producers, what will that do to farming incomes? Will new trade deals lead to lower standards for food and farming? Will a post-Brexit UK embrace genetically-modified crops?

The person with the power to answer some of these questions,Michael Gove, secretary of state at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is one of the government's strongest Brexit supporters. He is backed in the department by farming minister and fellow Brexiteer, George Eustice. Both are the target of fierce lobbying by the food, farming and fisheries industries.

Here we start to look at some of the organisations petitioning government, their hired lobbyists, political connections and positioning. Click through on the links to read more.

If you have any information on lobbying by food, farming, or fishing interests that you think should be shared on this page, please contact spininfo[at]spinwatch.org.

Farming lobby

UK farming lobby groups

National Farmers Union. The (NFU), the largest farmers' organisation in England and Wales, backed the UK staying in the EU. However, post-referendum it sees Brexit as providing a 'unique opportunity to assess the regulatory environment' for farmers. This includes tweaking EU laws as they are transfered to UK law through the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, and a more significant post-Brexit review of regulations. The NFU has routine meetings with government, including farming minister George Eustice. In this it is no doubt been helped by its lobbying agency, Portland Communications, which used to employ not only Eustice, but both special advisers of environment secretary Michael Gove.

Overseas farming lobby groups

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), which represents Australian beef, sheep (and goat) farmers, launched a campaign in May 2017 to get restrictions and tariffs lifted on Australian meat and see increased exports to the UK post Brexit. Part of its campaign aims to draw in third parties to 'help get [their] message through' to UK policy makers, such as UK-based companies, or individuals with an interest in the Australian meat industry. This includes UK investors in livestock-producing land in Australia, which would benefit from an increase in exports. UK-based individuals and investment funds are by far the largest foreign investors in Australian agricultural land and include Conservative donor and Brexit supporter, Michael Hintze. In early 2017, MLA hired UK lobbying agency Hume Brophy, which has run third party advocacy campaigns for the tobacco industry.

Think tanks and other third party lobby groups

A number of think tanks have published reports that advocate radical reform of the farming sector post Brexit, including how to fund British farming after leaving the EU.

• Bright Blue. The right-leaning think tank produced a report in November 2017 calling for subsidy payments to be replaced with a market-system for farmers to bid for 'green' contracts.
• Chatham House also produced a report in November 2017 calling for 'a market-oriented model... with a more effective commitment to the environment and climate change mitigation'.
• Institute of Economic Affairs. The free market think tank has long advocated the scrapping of farm subsidies, for example, publishing a report, Liberating farming from the CAP, in 2012 by Sean Rickard, which it presented to the APPG on European Reform
• Adam Smith Institute's 2016 Rebooting Britain report by its president, Dr Madsen Pirie, similarly calls for a 'New Zealand style abolition of agricultural subsidies' once Britain leaves the EU and is out of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Fishing lobby

Fishing for Leave