National Farmers Union Hustings  

Last night the local branch of the NFU held its election hustings at the Kingswell Hotel in Harwell.  As well as me, we had the Green candidate, Labour and for the first time the UKIP candidate.  The Lib Dem candidate was an hour late, so naturally I used his absence to represent Lib Dem policy as fairly and objectively as possible.  We had questions on the single farm payment, immigration, trust in politics, the future of pediatric heart care in Oxfordshire, dairy co-operatives and badger culling to combat TB.  There are more than 400 working farms in the constituency, so the audience represented an important group.  Farming is a pretty thankless task, and I think what most farmers find frustrating is the attitude of DEFRA, which they find unresponsive and bureaucratic.  I agree  - too many Whitehall departments push through regulations without any real...