TUV leader, Jim Allister, expressed dismay that Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and Greens all combined to defeat Amendment 17 at Further Consideration stage of the Climate Change No 2 Bill – an amendment which would have exempted farming from the ravishes of the cuts which the Climate Change legislation will impose.
In the course of the debate Mr Allister said:-
“Each of the succeeding stages of the Bill has seen the triumph of ideology over reality. One would have hoped that today, given the geopolitical matters that are unfolding before us and the economic and food consequences of what is happening in Ukraine, there might just have been a chance of reality overcoming ideology, but it does not look like that is the case. When we consider what is happening in the world, and when we consider the fact that food production is likely to be highly prejudiced by what is happening in Ukraine, this, of all times, is the last time when any legislature in this country should be dialling down food production, yet that is the inevitable consequence of the ideologically driven climate change legislation — the Climate Change Bill — from Ms Bailey and the better version, the Climate Change (No. 2) Bill.
“Today, we will hear, and have heard, many protestations for the gullible that those who are the pursuers of such ideology are, in fact, on the side of the farmers. Increasingly, that is not conning anyone. Amendment No 17 will be the litmus test of whether Members are on the side of farming or against farming, and we will see in this evening’s speeches that, despite all the pious platitudes, when it comes down to it, the SDLP, Alliance, Sinn Féin and the Greens will vote against protecting the farming community. That is the reality of where they are headed.
Mr McGuigan: Will the Member give way?
Mr Allister: Yes, I will give way.
Mr McGuigan: Again, I am confused about the Member’s support for amendment No 17 and his being on the side of agriculture, given, as I said earlier, that the agriculture sector has not said that it does not want to play its part in this. It has actually said the opposite: it needs to play its part because it will suffer if climate change is not tackled. Our opposition to amendment No 17 has absolutely nothing to do with anything other than our support for our agriculture sector.
“Where his farmers are concerned, maybe if Mr McGuigan had come to the meeting in Loughguile that he ran away from, he would have heard a very different message, but then he comes to the House and pretends that farmers are supportive of the Bill. Farmers are petrified by much of the devastation that will flow from the Bill, and rightly so, because the Bill, and particularly the Bill that he co-sponsored, will see a drastic reduction in livestock numbers and, therefore, in the numbers of farms, particularly hill farms and those in less-favoured areas, directly as a consequence of the ideology that the Member pursues and that Sinn Féin is pursuing in the House. It is those in that party who are the masters of reducing our agriculture industry, despite all the pious words, because their actions speak louder than their words. That is what we are seeing playing out before our very eyes in the debate.
“I support amendment No 1. It is still a very difficult and ambitious target, and no one should be under any illusion about that. It will still impose a heavy price on agriculture, but, faced with the uninhibited destruction of our agriculture sector, amendment No 1 is better than paying that price. Anyone who is making the best choices will choose to support amendment No 1.
“I marvel at the meaninglessness of the language of amendment No 2. It talks about:
“a fair and proportionate contribution”.
According to whose standards? Who decides that? By what measure is that made? Those are just meaningless words that mean whatever you want them to. I trust that amendment No 1, since apparently amendment No 2 is incompatible with it, is the one that will hold sway. It really needs the sustaining back-up of amendment No 17. I make it very clear to farmers across Northern Ireland that those who will tonight vote against amendment No 17 are those who are in the business of putting many of them out of business.”