Now that the Christmas period has ended and we are into the New Year, getting back into the rhythm of daily life, I want to take a moment to reflect on the food that we have eaten.
Many of us would have large amounts of turkey, chicken, lamb or beef over the last few weeks, along with plenty of helpings of potatoes, sprouts, carrots and other vegetables.
Far too often it is so easy for us to take these for granted, but the truth is our access to this fresh and delicious food is far from guaranteed.
It is only through the hard work of our farmers across the United Kingdom that we can get all of this fresh food at a reasonable price.
The fact is that, while a lot of politicians claim to on the side of farmers in Britain, the track record of the Labour Governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay falls far short of what our farmers need.
In Cardiff Bay we see far too much red tape being placed on our famers with rushed policy making that may look good in an office in Cardiff but fails to grasp the reality of the daily lives of the farming community.
This is all while, in Westminster, Sir Keir Starmer and his colleagues see our famers as another source of revenue with the new inheritance tax being hiked on our family farms.
I was incredibly concerned to see that only one Labour MP had the courage to stand up to the Government whip and vote against these plans, and I want to pay tribute to him for putting his country before party. For doing the right thing, he has since been suspended.
Our farmers should be backed, not betrayed, not punished or treated as cash cows to plug gaps in government finances.
This inheritance tax relief exists for a vital reason, to stop family farms being forced into sale, broken apart, or lost forever, and to ensure they can be handed down from generation to generation.
This is not a theoretical debate or a policy exercise played out on paper. These are real families, real livelihoods, and a way of life that is now under threat.
My Welsh Conservative colleagues and I have been absolutely clear: we will never turn our backs on our farmers or our rural communities. We will keep fighting, relentlessly, until this deeply unjust and damaging tax is scrapped once and for all.
Peter Fox MS - Monmouth
