Ross-on-Wye played host to the Radio 4’s Any Questions this weekend – but local MP Jesse Norman has criticised the BBC for having only Welsh MPs on the panel.
The show was recorded in the town’s main St Mary’s Church last Friday and broadcast on Friday evening, and again on Saturday lunchtime.
It featured Monmouth MP and minister for Wales David TC Davies, Plaid Cymru’s leader in Westminster and MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd Liz Saville Roberts, and shadow Welsh secretary and MP for Cardiff Central Jo Stevens.
National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters completed the line-up.
Conservative MP for Herefordshire South Jesse Norman, in the audience, tweeted: “Why is every member of the panel Welsh?! Does the Beeb think Herefordshire is in Wales?”
St Mary’s in #RossonWye filling up for @BBCAnyQuestions. My question is: why is every member of the panel Welsh?! Does the Beeb think Herefordshire is in Wales? pic.twitter.com/NTwXlHHs99
— Jesse Norman (@Jesse_Norman) April 8, 2022
Topics covered include the Chancellor’s wife’s tax arrangements; the rising cost of living; food security; dealing with Vladimir Putin; and childhood heroes.
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Ms Batters said what was “astounding me is we now have an energy strategy but not a food strategy”.
“This is the real challenge we face here and globally,” she said.
“The price of fertiliser, which is gas-intensive, has quadrupled. Feed prices are 50 per cent higher than 12 months ago.”
She said the Government “needs to intervene in the gas market” to avoid “double-digit contraction in UK food production”, and added: “Those who want to work on British farms should be able to – or we will just export our production.”
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Mr Davies said: “We are talking to the NFU. We have allowed organic manure to be spread on fields.
“We would like to see more of our own gas being produced, including through fracking, instead of ruling it out for environmental reasons.
“We have people in this country who are unemployed. The answer is not to bring in cheap labour from abroad.”
Jo Stevens said a food strategy “should be a national priority”, as farmers face “a perfect storm on top of minimal margins”.
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