No Farmers No Food founder James Melville has hit out at The Guardian after they branded his movement a “conspiracy group”.
It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attended a protest standing against the Welsh Labour government, which is proposing a new payments scheme in which farmers will have to prove 10 per cent of their land is woodland and 10 per cent of it is quality habitat for wildlife.
Melville stood front and centre at the protest alongside farmer Gareth Wyn Jones.
Asked by GB News’ Andrew Pierce why his group have “irked” the Guardian, Melville said it is likely down to the views he holds on a variety of political matters.
“My objective with No Farmers No Food was to raise a number of valid concerns of farmers across the country”, he said.
“These concerns are supermarket pricing, imports without regulation, competitors advantage for farmers, tuberculosis in Wales, there’s a lot more that needs to be addressed.
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PA“We’re not organising protests but a lot of people are galvanising around this to try and articulate these concerns of farmers.
“The article yesterday, tellingly I spoke to the journalist about this and I lifted all these concerns, but none of them were printed. How telling.”
Sunak’s attendance prompted criticism from some factions who suggested the PM was “pandering to extremists”.
The Observer said Sunak was at the protest alongside a group which has posted conspiracy theories about climate change and campaigns against net zero.
Melville argued that The Guardian’s conspiracy theory assertion is “lazy” as many individuals involved are some of the most credible figures in the farming industry.
“It hasn’t been easy to get us a broad consortium of opinions”, he said.
“There has to be discussion in Wales about all aspects of bad Government policy. One of the aspects the Welsh farmers are concerned about is the economic impact assessment report which suggests that current government policy in Wales would mean over 5,000 jobs lost in the industry.
“It cannot be framed as climate change denial conspiracy theorists. We have to be grown up about this.
“It’s not about net zero, it’s about lots of issues affecting farmers.”
Sunak was joined at the protest by Andrew RT Davies, the Welsh Conservatives leader, as he told those assembled with their tractors that they had been “treated as Labour’s laboratory”.