NFU Visit the EU!

Nikki Sinclaire MEP and her team hosted an NFU visit to the European Parliament on Monday 11th January in Brussels.The group of Farmers from the surrounding countryside of Shropshire were due to meet at Telford on Sunday night to fly to Brussels from Birmingham Airport. We were concerned they wouldn't make it through the ice and the snow, but as the organiser Ruth said "if farmers can't drive though the treacherous conditions no one can!"

Nikki's team met the NFU group of 25 at 2.30pm the next day on Monday afternoon inside the entrance of the EU visitors centre were photos were taken in front of the national flags. Then we were all lead into the visitors room where the workings of the EU Parliament were explained by John Fordham who has many years of experience working for the EU. We then viewed the impressive circular Parliament Chamber where there was a chance to ask questions.

After David finished, Nikki spoke about her perspective of the European Parliament and the reasons why the UK would benefit from leaving the EU, this was followed by a lively informative debate. Nikki was delighted to attend the NFU dinner later that evening with her colleague Stuart Agnew MEP this was a great opportunity for a discussion with him on technical agricultural issues - Stuart was with a determined few until around 1.00am the next morning, providing ample time for quite a thorough discussion!

Nikki will be making fact finding visits to farms in the future to support our agriculture community in the West Midlands. She said “I have found this visit very informative especially about the growing amount of paperwork farmers need to comply with – Farmers need to farm, not to become bureaucrats.”