FARMING bodies and opposition politicians in Wales have joined forces to condemn recent policy decisions and trade deals by the UK Government.

And after the shock by-election defeat for the Conservatives in Shropshire, the Liberal Democrats are forecasting a revival in fortunes in rural areas.

They point to a new poll out in Farmers Weekly showing support for the Conservatives dropping from 72 per cent in 2020 to 56 per cent this year among farmers. Meanwhile the Lib-Dems have almost doubled their vote in the same period going from 9 per cent to 17 per cent.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds said: “Our farmers have spent generations growing food and managing our countryside. They are key allies in the fight to tackle the climate emergency and to recover nature, all while continuing to produce high quality food for our plates.

“Yet this Conservative Government is continuously ignoring our farmers and in many cases actively making life more difficult for them."

“Farmers throughout the UK and Wales are quite rightly fed up of being taken for granted by the Conservative Party while they sell them down the river for quick trade deals designed to benefit big bankers in the city with little regard for rural communities."

After criticism of the recent free trade deals with the USA and New Zealand, news that the UK-Australia trade has been finalised brought more condemnation.

NFU Cymru president John Davies said NFU Cymru's fears had been realised.

"We will, of course, analyse the detail in full but on the face of it, there do not seem to be any tangible benefits that will deliver for Wales’ family farms," he said.

"NFU Cymru is ambitious for the future of food production here in Wales, but we expect to be able to compete on a level playing field and this deal does not deliver that.

“In particular, it is disappointing that the UK Government has succumbed to Australian demands to time-limit any safeguards for sensitive sectors. Despite assurances that these sectors would be afforded some level of protection, the final agreement confirms full liberalisation of dairy after just six years, while protection for beef and lamb will cease after 15 years."

He added: “It’s also difficult to discern anything in this deal that will allow us to control imports of food produced below the standards legally required of British farmers, for instance on land deforested for cattle production or systems that rely on the transport of live animals in a way that would be illegal here."

His comments were echoed by landowners. CLA Cymru’s director, Nigel Hollett said: "The Welsh Government has said very clearly that any trade deals should not disadvantage Welsh producers or compromise the high quality standards that are so important to us in Wales.

The Australia deal intensifies and prolongs the uncertainty created for the rural sector, which arose from the New Zealand arrangement earlier this year.

"Government has promised that suitable checks and balances will be established to ensure UK consumers are reassured that all food products sold here conform to the standards they expect – and that food produced in Wales is not undercut by products which do not meet those standards. So far, these assurances have failed to materialise."