SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax has asked DEFRA Minister George Eustice for assurances that food and farming are top priorities for the government during Brexit negotiations.

Following a meeting with local farmers, Mr Drax wrote to the minister listing concerns.

High on the list was the need for certainty over highly skilled EU staff, many of whom must be secured for employment at least nine months in advance.

Farmers’ concerns over the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the re-licensing of Glyphosate weed killer, the effects of the avian influenza scare on free range status for chickens, further moves on TB culling and problems with the Countryside Stewardship scheme were also highlighted.

Mr Drax quizzed the minister during an European Scrutiny Select Committee hearing, where Mr Eustice was invited to give evidence on DEFRA plans for farming and fishing post Brexit.

On the matter of EU farm workers, the minister replied that licensing would definitely continue. On funding, he said that the government would first decide on what our farmers needed, then finance it.

Mr Eustice also expects the 200 mile fishing limit to be reinstated post-Brexit, and that incursions from either side would be subject to negotiations. Quotas would also be decided by the UK.

Mr Drax said: “Food and farming are of paramount importance to this country. Of the £6 billion a year we currently pay to the EU, we must earmark a considerable sum for our farming industry post Brexit. The farmers know what they need.

"As I wrote to the minister, 'they rightly seek assurances, and I seek yours, that the Government has put food as a top priority during the Brexit negotiations'.”