"LABOUR HAS TREATED FARMERS AS SECOND CLASS CITIZENS" - MULHOLLAND

5.44.26pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 15th Aug 2009

Greg Mulholland MP for Wharfedale has reacted to the Government's new food security assessment.

Greg, who is the MP for large rural areas in Leeds North West said:

"Labour has disregarded the countryside in the same way the Thatcher governments of the 1980s neglected the industrialised areas of the north.

"After years of neglect and ignoring the plight of farmers the Government now seems somehow surprised at the levels of domestic food production.

"Investment is needed to revitalise British farming and it is high time that Labour realised the importance of food security especially given external threats to our current food supplies."