He promises to crack down on anti-social behavior in Cornwall and support visiting farmers to political bigwigs

With two weeks until the election, two big politicians from opposing parties visited Cornwall today to talk about two very different issues of concern to voters in the Duchy – anti-social behavior and farming.

The morning began with Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron leaving his home in North Cornwall to visit Trevaskis Farm in Connor Downs – which is run by Giles Eustice, brother of Camborne and Redruth MP George Eustice, who is standing down at the election. The former premier also met the 27-year-old Conservative candidate for the constituency, Connor Donnithorne.

In West Cornwall, to discuss farming issues, Lord Cameron promised the Tories “have farmers’ backs” and also defended the badger cull, which he introduced as prime minister.

Read more: Meet the candidates hoping to be Camborne and Redruth’s next MP

Read more: Meet the candidates hoping to be Truro and Falmouth’s next MP

He said: “I think it’s a very clear choice in this election when it comes to agriculture. You can see a very comprehensive farming manifesto from the Tories and in it the commitment of an extra billion pounds in the farming budget in the next Parliament; you can see deregulation’s commitment to allow development to open farm shops;

“You see from the Liberal Democrats, for example, a pledge to cut beef and milk by 30 per cent – which could lead to the closure of 17,000 farms. From Labour, almost nothing – only 87 words about agriculture, so I think when it comes to agriculture, we have the farmers’ backs.

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“We know there are a lot of problems and difficulties, but we are investing money and support and, crucially, for the first time, we will legislate on a food security goal for our country. Along with border security, energy security and national security, food security is a big issue.”

He was asked about the bovine tuberculosis that is crippling many small family farms and causing not only financial problems but also emotional distress. Labor says it will end “inefficient badger culling”.

“I think they are dead wrong,” said Lord Cameron. “I was the prime minister who introduced the badger cull and I remember how intense the arguments were, but I think the evidence is clear that it has worked. We haven’t eradicated bovine TB, but we’ve certainly reduced it and badger culling has played its part. I think it’s important to keep this as one of a series of measures that we’re taking.

“Only the Tories have been prepared to take the tough decisions needed to protect UK farmers. I live next door to a beef farmer and it’s heartbreaking when a herd gets infected. In politics you have to be prepared to take unpopular decisions. I knew the slaughter badgering would be unpopular and upset a lot of people, but it was the right thing to do because ultimately we need to help our farmers have healthy cattle.”

Does he think Westcountry Tory MPs will keep their seats?

“They’re a tough choice, there’s no doubt about it. We had Covid that hit the economy, we had the war in Ukraine that pushed up prices. What Rishi has done is to bring the economy back to growth and bring inflation back to 2% and I think that is proof of what an effective leader he is.

“What I would say to everyone here in the Westcountry, we don’t know if these polls are right or wrong. The only thing we know is that if you go out on the Fourth of July and vote for one of your Labor Tory MPs, they will be in Parliament to support you, to support our farmers, to support our fishermen, to support the importance of housing for local people, to support the importance of the tourism industry.

“If you want the likes of Connor Donnithorne to represent you – he’s a local boy, born and bred in Cornwall. I met him when he was seven years old and I told him he wanted to think about politics and I’m very happy that 20 years later he’s doing well, already being a very effective councillor.”

A few hours later and Yvette Cooper, shadow secretary of state for the Home Department, was meeting local community groups at the Cornwall Neighborhoods For Change building in Redruth to discuss anti-social behavior with Labour’s parliamentary candidate, Perran Moon.

She told us: “I’m here to talk to families – people who have suffered terrible domestic abuse and crime; how people have often been let down by the criminal justice system and why it needs to change. Labor has a plan for change in general. how the police respond to domestic abuse and violence against women and girls.”

Ms Cooper also visited Truro where she spoke about anti-social behavior with businesses, residents and Cornwall Council’s anti-social behavior officers. “We talked about persistent shoplifting and street drinking and how it can end up intimidating people. This is happening on high streets and inner city streets across the country.

“I don’t see neighborhood police in Truro anymore. In Devon and Cornwall, neighborhood policing has been cut by around a third over the past eight years. That’s not good enough. social behaviour, not just in Truro but across the South West.”

She spoke of Labour’s plan to put 13,000 extra neighborhood police officers and PCSOs on our streets, “particularly in our town centres, town centers and local communities, and we would fund it through an Independent Policing Foundation-based work that found that if you bring together Procurement from 43 different forces, we can make major savings which we can then put back into frontline policing.”

How confident is Ms Cooper that she will be this country’s next Home Secretary?

“We have to win every vote. I was talking to a gentleman from Truro today who said he was a Tory voter all his life but now voted Labor because he said it was time for a change and he was fed up with it all Chaos will only come if the people want it vote”.

Mr Moon added that anti-social behavior was a “driver of a lot of fear for people” in his constituency. “It is a challenge and it is one that we, as a Labor government, should meet head on. The party is talking about 13,000 more officers in the UK – we want our fair share here. We will also look at how we can revive ourselves. high streets with policies to attract the businesses we need back to towns like Camborne, Redruth and Hayle.”

A third political visit took place today. Steve Reed, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, visited Fentongollan Farm and Lake Argal with Truro and Falmouth Labor candidate Jayne Kirkham to discuss clean water projects and the importance of nature in the area with members of Cornwall Wildlife Trust and local. carp fishermen.