Small abattoirs in South East face uncertain future as costs rise
The cost of disposing of animal waste has risen to £5,000 a week. "An ageing workforce is also a challenge" Mr Smith said, "the average age of a slaughterman is 63. Young people are not interested in coming in to the industry. "The abattoir is not viable and is making a loss. I'm running a wholesale butchery, that's what's keeping our business alive."We do need support and funding."
The number of abattoirs in the UK has fallen from about 2,500 in the 1970s to 203 by 2023.Smaller operations in England fell from 64 in 2019, to 49 in 2023, with five closing in 2024.Farmer Edward Perrett from Ditchling, West Sussex, uses Mr Smith's abattoir, selling the meat to customers in his farm shop."To have a short journey to an abattoir is good for animal welfare and it keeps the cost down" he said."If the abattoir closed down it would make life very difficult."
Mr Smith has the support of Arundel and South Downs Conservative MP Andrew Griffith.Mr Griffith said: "This is a vital, sometimes neglected part of our food supply chain. There is a real crisis here."The last government set up some grants but we need even more than that and crucially, less red tape."
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "Small abattoirs make a vital contribution towards maintaining our resilient food supply chain and provide a competitive route to market for producers of rare and native breeds."We are investing £5 billion into farming, the largest ever budget for sustainable food production, and are unlocking rural growth with reforms to boost farmers' profits."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Nigel Farage 'in touching distance' of being PM as new mega-poll puts Reform UK on course for 290 seats in the Commons... as Keir Starmer's ratings slump to an all-time low
Nigel Farage is on course to become PM with his Reform UK party within 'touching distance' of forming a majority government, a new mega-poll has suggested. The More In Common survey found, if a general election was held today, Reform would become the largest party in the House of Commons with 290 seats. Although this is below the number of MPs needed for an outright majority, meaning a hung parliament, it was more than twice as many as any other party. And the pollster said Reform is now 'close to the level where they could command an outright majority'. More In Common's new MRP (Multilevel Regression and Post-stratification) model, based on polling of more than 10,000 Britons, put Labour on 126 seats. This is a loss of 285 seats from Sir Keir Starmer 's general election landslide just a year ago, and leaves them with fewer than half as many seats as Reform. The research put the Tories on 81 seats, down 40 seats from last year, with the Liberal Democrats on 73 seats (up one seat) and the SNP on 42 seats (up 33 seats). Meanwhile, as Sir Keir marks one year in Downing Street this weekend, the poll found the Prime Minister's personal approval rating had slumped to an all-time low of -43. More In Common's projection showed a majority of Cabinet ministers would lose their seats in the face of a Reform surge. This includes Deputy PM Angela Rayner, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Labour's main losses were found to be to Reform, with 223 seats directly flipping from Sir Keir's party to Mr Farage's outfit. This includes many long-standing Labour constituencies in the North of England and in Wales. Reform was also shown to be growing support in Conservative areas, with the MRP projecting they would win 59 seats that the Tories held in 2024. The main reason that voters gave for turning away from Labour - regardless of who they would vote for instead - is broken promises and U-turns on previous pledges. More than a third (36 per cent) selected this as a reason, while also high on the list was failing to deliver on the cost of living (31 per cent), and Labour's changes to the wiinter fuel payments (27 per cent). Luke Tryl, UK director of More in Common, said: 'It is an unhappy birthday for the Prime Minister. 'His personal approval has hit an all-time low, while Britons blame him rather than his Chancellor for the welfare mess and think he has lost control of his party. 'Meanwhile our new MRP shows Reform UK as the big winners from the Government's failures. 'Although we are a long way from an election and much will change between, Nigel Farage's party are demonstrating that they are now close to the level where they could command an outright majority. 'Britain's political landscape has transformed entirely from just a year ago.'
BBC News
41 minutes ago
- BBC News
Education secretary and shadow chancellor to face questions from Laura Kuenssberg
Update: Date: 08:28 BST Title: Education secretary and shadow chancellor prepare to take the hot seat Content: As the Labour government marks a year in government, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will be quizzed on this week's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg. Also in the hot seat this morning: Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride and the Metropolitan Police's most senior officer, Commissioner Mark Rowley. On this week's panel, Tortoise Media Editor James Harding, TV Presenter Susanna Reid and General Secretary of the National Education Union Daniel Kebede. We won't be posting regular updates during the show, but you can follow along live right here from 09:00 BST. Just click watch live at the top of this page.
Daily Mail
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Zelensky blasts NATO members' 'slow' spending increase
Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Vladimir Putin could attack a NATO country within the next five years, as he criticised the alliance for a slow spending ramp up. Speaking to Sky News about the proposed NATO spending target of 5 percent of GDP by 2035, the Ukrainian leader said: 'In my view, this is slow because we believe that starting from 2030 Putin can have significantly greater capabilities.' Zelensky said that although Putin's soldiers 'are all getting annihilated and wiped out at the battlefield' and that the Russian leader 'needs a pause', he said '10 years is a very long time. 'He will have a new army ready [by then].' Zelensky's remarks come after NATO members agreed on Sunday to a big increase in their defence spending target to 5 percent of GDP, as demanded by US President Donald Trump. The UK was among the 32 member countries to agree to the goal, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowing to commit Britain to spending 3.5 percent of GDP on core defence spending, plus a further 1.5 per cent on security-related domestic infrastructure. Starmer's pledge came as he welcomed Zelensky to Downing Street over the weekend ahead of the NATO summit on Tuesday. Sir Keir also announced plans for a new agreement with Ukraine. 'I'm really proud that this afternoon we are able to announce an industrial military co-production agreement, the first of its kind so far as Ukraine and the UK are concerned, which will be a massive step forward now in the contribution that we can continue to make, and is really a symbol of not only our joint work in this conflict, but the 100-year agreement that we've put in place', the prime minister said. It also comes as the Ukrainian leader and Trump are set to meet on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, a senior source in the Ukrainian presidency told AFP. The war-time leader has been a central figure at recent summits but given his fractious relationship with Trump, Zelensky has not been invited to the main working session with NATO members. 'The teams are finalising the details' of the meeting, the source told AFP, adding that the talks were scheduled for the 'early afternoon' in the Netherlands. The source added that the discussion would focus on Ukraine's 'purchase of a defence package, a large part of which consists of air defence systems'. The leaders would also discuss more 'sanctions against Russia, and a price cap on oil', the source added. Ukraine and its allies have sought to lower an existing oil cap imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine more than three years ago, from $60 to $45, to dent the Kremlin war chest. Trump so far has frustrated Western allies by refusing to impose new sanctions on Russia despite President Vladimir Putin's refusal to agree to a Ukraine ceasefire. Trump and his NATO counterparts are due to gather today for a summit that could unite the world's biggest security organisation around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 allies. Last week, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was optimistic the European members and Canada would commit to invest at least as much of their economic growth on defense as the United States does for the first time. Then Spain rejected the new NATO target for each country to spend 5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense needs, calling it 'unreasonable.' Trump also insists on that figure. The alliance operates on a consensus that requires the backing of all 32 members. The following day, Trump said the U.S. should not have to respect the goal. 'I don't think we should, but I think they should,' he said. Trump lashed out at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government, saying: 'NATO is going to have to deal with Spain. Spain's been a very low payer.' He also criticized Canada as 'a low payer.' Spain was the lowest spender in the alliance last year, directing less than 2% of its GDP on defense expenditure, while Canada was spending 1.45%, according to NATO figures. The two-day summit in The Hague involves an informal dinner Tuesday and one working session Wednesday morning. A very short summit statement has been drafted to ensure the meeting is not derailed by fights over details and wording. Founded in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed by 12 nations to counter the threat to security in Europe posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, notably via a strong U.S. presence on the continent. NATO's ranks have grown to 32 countries since the Washington Treaty was signed 75 years ago. Sweden joined last year, worried by an increasingly aggressive Russia.
