YP Comment: My admiration for our farmers. PM's letter of hope to Abigail, 11

SHE might just be a tender 11 years of age but Abigail Morrell, the daughter of a Harrogate dairy farmer, already knows how to get things done '“ go straight to the very top.
In reply to a letter from Harrogate schoolgirl Abigail Morrell, David cameron has said that farmers are "vital" to the economy.In reply to a letter from Harrogate schoolgirl Abigail Morrell, David cameron has said that farmers are "vital" to the economy.
In reply to a letter from Harrogate schoolgirl Abigail Morrell, David cameron has said that farmers are "vital" to the economy.

With the falling price of milk perturbing her father, she wrote to David Cameron and asked him to “do whatever you can go” so she can, in time, fulfil her dream of running a farm with her older brother.

Yet what was so endearing about Downing Street’s response was the time and trouble taken to provide a detailed reply – including an acceptance about the need for “better labelling for British dairy products” and encouraging “business-minded young people” into agriculture – before Mr Cameron penned some deeply personal remarks of his own. “Yours was such a good and moving letter,” he wrote. “I too love the countryside and admire our farmers and all they do for us. We will try and help this vital industry,” added the Tory leader before underlining the word “will” for extra emphasis.

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Words of comfort to Abigail and her family, these three short sentences will reassure the wider farming family that Mr Cameron is on their side and grasps the current policy challenges confronting agriculture and wider rural economy; his response was stereotypical of the many letters sent to global statesmen rather than youngsters not old enough to vote.

It’s just a shame that the plight of the Morrell family, and other dairy farmers, is not always uppermost in the thoughts of those pontificating politicians at Defra, and bungling bureaucrats at the ubiquitous Rural Payments Agency, who have been censured today by not one but two Parliamentary inquiries because of their collective ineptitude.

Rather than hiding behind the tired old excuses about these reports being out-of-date and so on, perhaps those concerned would like to write to young Abigail, and the children of all those farmers fighting for their survival, to explain why “country of origin” labelling on UK produce is still so misleading and why the IT systems processing subsidy payments are still not fit for purpose.

These are not new issues. Quite the opposite – they have been recurring themes for the past decade. Despite work beginning in 2012 on a new all-singing, all-dancing computer system, its cost has already increased by 40 per cent from £155m to £215m because it has been overseen by a succession of “senior responsibility officers” with differing priorities and it still cannot process subsidies in time to assist farmers with their cash-flow at this critical juncture.

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Not only was the management structure “dysfunctional and inappropriate,” the consequence will be the UK being fined hundreds of millions of pounds by the EU for late payments – money the country can ill-afford to squander. The process also failed to acknowledge the challenges in those rural areas still bereft of broadband.

Having provided such a personal response to Abigail Morrell, perhaps the Prime Minister should serve notice on Defra and the RPA that officials have 100 days to get to grips with this mess or those concerned can expect another letter containing their P45s. Nothing less should suffice for an industry that David Cameron himself describes as being “vital”.

Put the region first: Devolution deal is unacceptable

NEARLY A year after George Osborne awarded unprecedented powers to Greater Manchester, there is, belatedly, a sense that Yorkshire will be the biggest loser if this region’s leaders can’t resolve the devolution deadlock that still exists on this side of the Pennines. With this year’s Budget now just a fortnight away and the Chancellor in need of a boost to the faltering Northern Powerhouse, the latest attempt to resolve this impasse – a single mayor presiding over two separate combined authorities – does at least recognise that West Yorkshire’s needs and priorities are different to those of North and East Yorkshire.

However this latest compromise appears to acknowledge the very reason why Yorkshire councillors have been unable to reach a satisfactory consensus – the reluctance of Labour politicians in West Yorkshire to work with their Tory counterparts elsewhere and vice-versa. At face value, it looks unworkable, not least because of the confusion over who was ultimately responsible for budget allocations and day-to-day decision-making – the elected mayor or the individual members of the two combined authorities?

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Just because the county’s political elite seem pre-occupied with protecting individual fiefdoms does not justify this region’s residents, the most importance people of all, having to accept second best when the future prosperity of Yorkshire is at stake. A county renowned for its prudence, Yorkshire taxpayers do not seek more tiers of bureaucracy – voters simply seek cost-effective governance that actually makes a difference. It’s still not too much to ask for, is it?