Former NFU president Peter Kendall has accused Boris Johnson of “bluff and bluster” after he failed to answer vital questions on the Brexit debate.
In an interview with the BBC’s Countryfile, the former London mayor said any government that did not give farmers the same level of subsidies in a post-Brexit scenario would be “mad”.
However, when Mr Johnson was asked if he could guarantee farmers outside the EU would be paid the same level of subsidies received under the Common Agricultural Policy, he said he was “just a backbench Tory”.
Mr Johnson continued: “It’s an economic no-brainer. It’s much more important to get a guarantee and get commitments from the UK government that you can hold to account, that you can kick out of office and you can elect.”
Mr Johnson also claimed the UK could leave the single market, which offers farmers the opportunity to sell their goods to 500 million EU citizens, and still have access to it in the event of a Brexit.
He also said the UK government, outside the EU and without free movement, would decide how many immigrants would be allowed in to work on our farms.
“If the rural industry was saying, ‘Look, come on, we’re desperate, we can’t get the crops out of the field’, then of course that’s an argument that people will listen to.”
But pro-EU campaign group Britain Stronger In Europe was not impressed by Mr Johnson’s comments.
AHDB chairman and former NFU president Peter Kendall, a leading figure in the “remain” campaign, said: “This is typical bluff and bluster from Boris, who has failed to answer key questions that are vital to the British farming industry.
“He was unable to guarantee that farmers would receive the same support as their key competitors in the European Union. And he could not explain how farmers could sell tariff-free into the EU if we left the single market.”
Meanwhile, Defra farm minister George Eustice has admitted that taking an opposite view to prime minister David Cameron on the EU referendum debate has been “difficult”.
However, speaking at the Royal Bath and West Show on Wednesday (1 June), Mr Eustice said Defra had been working hard behind the scenes. “Although the government says it has got no plan B, it does have people like me who have done a lot of work. I can assure you Defra will be Brexitready if we vote to leave.”
✱ See page 16 for a head-to-head debate between Peter Kendall and Michael Seals on the EU referendum