UFU Parliamentary update on key issues

The agri-food sector is best served when a devolved government is in place

2023 has seen significant change in personnel with multiple changes in political offices in Westminster. Whilst most lobbying this year has been Windsor Framework related, attention will soon be turning to the next UK general election confirmed by the Prime Minister to be happening some time in 2024. The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) will be drafting its own manifesto with key asks about the future of basic payment and the on-going need for an SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) - Veterinary Agreement between the UK as a whole and the EU, amongst other key policy requests.

Brussels

2023 was a significant year for UK-EU relations with the announcement of the Windsor Framework in late February. The UFU president and I have been in Brussels multiple times over 2023 working alongside the British Agriculture Bureau (BAB) of which all four UK unions are a part of. We have engaged with the UK mission, EU Commission, the NI Executive Office, Irish politicians and others. This lobbying will continue in 2024 as we move further down the road in this new relationship with Brussels and as the EU also prepares for European Parliament elections in June 2024.

Stormont

With the Northern Ireland (NI) Assembly and Executive not sitting throughout 2023, the UFU has continued to lobby local politicians on issues of importance to our members.

The agri-food sector is best served when a devolved government is in place in Stormont. Locally elected politicians are needed to take key decisions over the need for wildlife intervention to control TB, how farmers and rural communities are to be protected from climate change and recent policy decisions and to deal with divergence which is now very much a reality post Brexit. These issues coexist with many others of similar importance.

2024

A complex lobbying triangle now exists for the UFU, with agriculture devolved to the NI Executive, basic payment coming from the UK treasury and legislation created in Brussels that applies in NI so that we can access the single market. With all of that in mind and as 2023 comes to an end, the UFU look forward to 2024 with a glass half full approach to a very consequential political year that lies ahead in Westminster, Brussels and Stormont for farming families throughout NI.