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Minette Batters says: ‘Ministers don’t respond well to people continually presenting what’s wrong. You have to problem-solve so the government wants you there’


‘Travel can learn from farming’s experience’


Ex-NFU president Minette Batters to address Travel Convention. By Ian Taylor


It may seem odd to have a leader of the farmers’ union, the NFU, address the Travel Convention. But Minette Batters, who served six years as NFU president until February, notes: “There are so many crossovers.” Batters, now a crossbench peer


in the House of Lords, though she dislikes being called Baroness, identifies a major similarity as the difficulty of dealing with a continually changing cast of ministers. “I was president for six years and worked with four prime ministers.


56 19 SEPTEMBER 2024


Now there is a fifth,” she said. “Such churn is unprecedented.” The NFU operates at a different


level of government to the travel sector. Rishi Sunak spoke at the NFU conference this year and Batters said Keir Starmer visited her farm before the election. Yet Labour’s election manifesto


included “just 87 words on farming and food”, she pointed out, not dissimilar to travel. This linked ‘food security’ to national security, prompting Batters to note Brexit, the pandemic and the Ukraine war


all affected food supplies and to ask: “What are the plans to deliver it?” Now, she said: “Labour plans


to double onshore wind and solar generation and to build 350,000 houses a year. Land use is becoming incredibly contentious.” Batters came in for criticism from


some NFU members for not attacking the government more, not unlike Abta. But she argued: “Representing members is easy – banging the table


Continued on page 54 travelweekly.co.uk


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