The Conservatives have vowed to increase the UK-wide farming budget by £1bn in new proposals from its manifesto.
Rishi Sunak pledged to increase the agriculture budget and ensure it rises by inflation every year, as part of a series of policies aimed at bolstering the sector.
Promising to “always be on the side of farmers”, the party has maintained that they will improve public sector procurement to ensure at least 50% of food expenditure is spent on food produced locally or to higher environmental production standards.
Other policies the Conservatives aims to continue include maintaining Environmental Land Management Schemes, the annual UK Farm to Fork Summit, and ringfence agricultural funding, which will run alongside a new UK-wide £20 million Farming Innovation Fund.
Meanwhile, in a move aimed at supporting SMEs, Sunak revealed that the party would ease the burden of business rates for high street retailers by increasing the multiplier on distribution warehouses that support online shopping over time.
Elsewhere, the Conservatives will press ahead with plans to make assaults on shopworkers a standalone offence, which was delayed due to Sunak calling a general election.
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‘A missed opportunity’
Yet some industry experts have criticised the Conservative manifesto as a “missed opportunity for business”.
Dee Corsi, chief executive of the New West End Company, which represents the interests of businesses in London’s shopping district, said: “The idea of increasing business rate multipliers on distribution warehouses ignores the fact that modern retailers sell both online and in-store.
The manifesto also came under fire from the BRC, as chief executive Helen Dickinson said it “fails to take the bull by the horns, leaving many ongoing challenges, from business rates to apprenticeships, without clear solutions”.
She said: “The Conservative manifesto highlights the need for a tax system that incentivises business to invest, yet does little to bring this about for the retail industry.
“With business rates now at a record high of 54.6p in the pound, the Conservative promise to ‘continue to ease the burden of business rates’ for businesses on the high street will ring hollow to many retailers. Despite previous promises to reform the broken business rates system, we continue to see empty shops around the country that have fallen prey to sky high rates.
“And while the full details of the proposals to offset high street business rates by raising rates for warehousing would need to be seen, it is hard to see it as a viable solution given the wide range of retailers that sell goods online as well as from stores.
Earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats also unveiled their 2024 general election manifesto, vowing to “protect consumers from unfair price rises”. Labour is set to present its manifesto tomorrow (12 May).
