Rishi Sunak plans to create a new legal requirement to report on the proportion of food imports every year and set a self-sufficiency target which has won the backing of George Eustice and Victoria Prentis.

He has also promised to make farmers a ‘priority’ in trade deals.

Housebuilding on the greenbelt would be restricted too in the light of recent green belt data revealed that nearly 300,000 homes have been built on prime farmland,

His team told the Daily Telegraph that restrictions would be placed on farmland being given over to rewilding projects or large solar farms.

Mr Sunak told the Countryside Alliance that:

I’ll continue to protect our countryside from those who don’t understand the rural way of life. In short my mission has always been to do things “for” rural communities, not “to” them.

I know the cost of living is the number one priority for people at the moment. As Chancellor, I announced £37 billion to help families with their bills – including cutting fuel duty. I also took the decision to allow farmers to continue using red diesel as part of our reforms to rebated fuels.

Farming is part of the DNA of my constituency - from the Upper Dales to Great Ayton, from sheep to dairy to arable, through Auction Marts at Hawes, Leyburn and Northallerton. Food production and food security have never been so important and I will always back our farmers, to whom we owe so much. They - and our wider rural communities - are part of the solution to the environmental challenges we face, not the problem. 

I know the importance of a thriving rural economy. Butchers, farm shops, pubs, hotels, and post offices are the lifeblood of North Yorkshire’s economy – as they are for rural communities across the country.”

Find Liz Truss’s policies here:

https://farming.co.uk/news/liz-truss-will-free-farmers-from-red-tape-to-bolster-food-security