As part of her August tour of the region while the European Parliament is in recess, Dr Ellie Chowns, the Green Party MEP for the West Midlands, was on the panel at the ‘Farmers Against Brexit’ event last night. Organised by Staffs4Europe and held at Foxlowe Arts Centre in Leek, she spoke on the dangers to the county of a crash-out Brexit.

Ellie said, “I am really worried about the impact Brexit would have on Staffordshire. Boris Johnson is threatening us with a crash-out, cliff-edge Brexit that would be absolutely disastrous for the county.

“Farmers would face a double whammy: cheap imports undercutting home-grown produce, and greater difficulty exporting to the EU, which is by far our biggest external market. Many farmers have said they would be simply forced out of business, resulting in devastating job losses and tens of thousands of acres of land with nobody to farm them.”

“Crashing out of the EU would mean facing the worrying prospect of intense pressure to reduce food quality, animal welfare and environmental protection standards. Boris Johnson’s chosen path is irresponsible and reckless. He’s turning his back on cooperation with our closest neighbours in favour of selling us out to Trump’s America. It would be a huge insult to our farming heritage if our government eagerly accepted a trade deal from President Trump that meant chlorinated chicken landing on our supermarket shelves.

“The Brexit crisis facing our country is completely home-grown. But we are now much better informed about the disastrous impact Brexit would have. The best, most democratic way forward is to hold a People’s Vote on the options that are actually on the table, stay in the EU, and finally free ourselves up to pay attention to all the other vital issues that have been ignored for so long, like education, social care, and the urgent climate crisis.”