Starmer to make EU trade and standards pledge as Tories ‘give up on farmers’

theguardian.com:

Keir Starmer will promise farmers a closer trading relationship with the EU and to protect high British food standards, as he says the Conservatives have “given up on farmers”.

The Labour leader will make his pitch to the rural community in a speech to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on Tuesday, promising more police and community support officers in the countryside.

Starmer will highlight how under 13 years of Conservative rule, public services have crumbled in rural areas and crime rates have increased.

“If your village has an antisocial behaviour problem, or a fly-tipping problem, or off-road biking, and the only police officers around are in a station or custody suite miles away, filing an arrest, off the streets for hours – that’s a unique problem,” he will tell the conference.

“We’ll get 13,000 more police into our towns and villages, more police on countryside streets.

“All of this requires a different approach. One that is designed – from the start – with respect for the challenges of the countryside.”

The Labour party has announced new policies on crime in recent days, with the shadow justice secretary, Steve Reed, pledging “clean up squads” for fly-tippers.

The NFU has lobbied for years against trade deals that could undercut British farmers, such as the one the former prime minister Liz Truss struck with Australia, amid fears that post-Brexit Britain would be too reliant on imports.

Thérèse Coffey this week told the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture winter conference in Washington DC, that she hoped to increase trade with the US and import more of its “fantastic produce”.

However, Starmer will tell the conference that under a Labour government, British farmers will be prioritised and standards