Farmers livid at PM's 'crass' comments over pig cull
A Wiltshire pig farmer has hit out at Boris Johnson's 'crass and insensitive' reaction to the crisis facing the industry, which he predicts could become as bad as the foot and mouth nightmare of 20 years ago.
Farmers warned last week of a pork supply crisis unless the Government urgently eased an acute shortage of abattoir workers and butchers that has left up to 150,000 pigs which should have been slaughtered backed up on UK farms and farmers facing a costly cull.
But livid pig producers say the Prime Minister appeared to treat it as a joke when he was tackled on the growing disaster in a TV interview with Andrew Marr.
A spokesman for the National Pig Association said Boris Johnson played down the prospect of an on-farm welfare nightmare "pointing out bizarrely that the pigs are going to be slaughtered anyway.
"When Mr Marr pointed out the obvious stupidity of the remark - pigs being slaughtered and incinerated versus going into the food chain - the Prime Minister added: 'If I may say so, the great hecatomb of pigs you describe on farm has not taken place. Let's see what happens'.
"Mr Johnson went on to blame the industry for the staff shortages in abattoirs, for not paying enough or creating attractive working conditions."
The spokesman added: "Unsurprisingly the Prime Minister's comments have prompted a furious industry response."
Cameron Naughton, who farms 450 outdoor sows at West End Farm, near Devizes, said although he was fortunate compared to larger farms as 70 per cent of his stock is sold locally, he had 80 pigs that he cannot sell this week because of the crisis.
He said: "Boris Johnson's comments were beyond crass and incredibly insensitive. No one understands why the Government is being so pig-headed, they seem content to throw the industry under a bus."
Although Brexit had in part affected the industry by reducing the numbers of foreign workers.
He added: "The public will still be able to buy pork but that will be imported. All we are saying is for the Government to just allow workers in to clear the backlog and to allow the industry to continue to exist.