Oral Answers to Questions

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Angela Eagle]

This is a highly sensitive issue. The reasons for someone contemplating taking their own life are often very complex. My heart goes out to every family who is devastated by such events. I understand the pressures that farmers are under, but I have to say that the right hon. Lady’s way of making her point is very distasteful indeed.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

10. What steps she is taking to support dairy farmers.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Dame Angela Eagle)]

Dairy farmers are facing a difficult period of market adjustment. The new fair dealing regulations ensure fairness and greater transparency, creating a more resilient dairy supply chain that supports farmers and strengthens national food security.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

Happy Christmas to you and your staff, Mr Speaker, and to everyone here.

Despite the agricultural supply chain adjudicator having a remit over fair dealings for milk prices, it appears that contracts are essentially a one-way street, with milk processors dictating prices. A constituent of mine, a dairy farmer, has recently been notified of a 2p per litre cut, which equates to a loss of £11,000 and makes it unviable for him to continue. What steps is the Minister taking to urgently redress that imbalance? Farmers are scared to speak out because it will have an impact on their contract.

[Dame Angela Eagle]

I understand and empathise with the experience of the hon. Lady’s constituent. A global glut of milk is driving prices down; prices had gone up because there was an undersupply, so there are market corrections going on. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024 now apply to all dairy supply contracts. If her constituent feels that he is being unfairly dealt with, he can contact the agricultural supply chain adjudicator, who was appointed to carry out enforcement of the fair dealing obligation regulations. He can now do so because those regulations have been in place since July of this year.