(UK) Sunak stands with net zero and climate conspiracy group at farming protest

Source: The Observer

Sunak stands with net zero and climate conspiracy group at farming protest

Demonstration against Welsh Labour policy included No Farmers No Food campaign calling for end to climate measures, and Welsh Tory leader

Helena Horton
Sun 25 Feb 2024 07.00 GMT

Rishi Sunak attended a protest alongside a group which has posted conspiracy theories about climate change, and which campaigns against net zero, the Observer can reveal.

The prime minister has been accused of “pandering to extremists” by farmers and wildlife groups, who have asked him to “listen to reason and logic” rather than conspiracy theories.

Sunak has been making a concerted effort to improve his party’s standing in rural areas after polling showed the majority of countryside seats are likely to be lost to Labour and the Liberal Democrats at the next general election. Last week, he gave the keynote address at the National Farmers’ Union conference where he told farmers “I have your back.”

On Friday, he attended a farmers’ protest against the Welsh Labour government, which has brought in a new payments scheme in which farmers will have to prove 10% of their land is woodland and 10% of it is quality habitat for wildlife. He appeared alongside farmer Gareth Wyn Jones and stood next to placards emblazoned with the logo for the campaign “No Farmers No Food”.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/25/sunak-stands-with-net-zero-and-climate-conspiracy-group-at-farming-protest