Former UFU president: 'I would not rule out attending a future fuel protest - we are being taxed out of existence'
A former UFU president has said he would not rule out attending a fuel protest in the future.
Victor Chestnutt also called for the government to temporarily axe fuel duty, and, when asked how he would rate the Labour government on its rural record, he gave it “minus 10” out of 10.
The UFU has been cool towards the idea of fuel protests in Northern Ireland so far, with current president William Irvine saying that “blocking roads is not the way forward”.
Fellow ex-president Ivor Ferguson has also now added his voice to the debate, telling the News Letter that such protests are “of limited use here” whenever real power lies in London.
Mr Chestnutt, a livestock farmer based in north Antrim who was president from 2020 to 2022, said that the price farmers get for milk has dropped by perhaps a third in six months, the wet winter weather has had a negative impact on the soil, and at the same time fuel and fertiliser costs have soared.
The result is he will not turn a profit this year.
On the recent protests, he said: “It's a fine line. You don't want to annoy the public. It does highlight the issue.
“Fuel protests will not stop the war in Iran, but it does show government that we are being taxed out of existence.”
He went on to add that he is in the middle of lambing and calving, and cannot leave the farm to attend a 'go-slow' himself.
He added: “I'm not against protesting. I fully understand the reason people have for protesting.
“I think it's a delicate balance – we could block the whole of Northern Ireland, but would Starmer really worry?
“I certainly wouldn't condemn them, and if I felt the need I wouldn't rule out me never taking part in one...
“The beauty I think, or one of the strengths, of this protesting is that it is spontaneous.
“It's not an organisation saying to everybody: 'here, come out and protest'.
“It's people at the end of their tether.
“To me, anybody from government should look at this and say: 'What is going on here? This is not a union telling these people to do it. These people are feeling the need themselves'.”
Mr Chestnutt went on to say: “There'll be a day coming when the government will rue not looking after it's own production, it's own farmers.
“We have a just-in-time food supply chain, and if that ever is not on time, no government will stand if the food shelves are empty.”
As to the government's record on farming, he said: “On a scale of one-to-10, minus 10. They do not seem to get the rural economy or anything.
“They seem to be fixated with climate change and net-zero policies – which are all very well, but you've got to feed yourself first.”
He called for a “tax break” on fuel in the form of a suspension of duty (which is 11.14 pence per litre on red diesel and 57.95ppl on white diesel).
Mr Chestnutt’s predecessor as president (2018 to 2020), Co Armagh sheep farmer Mr Ferguson, told the News Letter: “Protesting here is something that I wouldn’t be happy to support, for a number of reasons.
"It does inconvenience a lot of people, and the people that it does inconvenience I always think of them as consumers of the products we sell: whether it be beef, or lamb, or whatever.
"And it does also inconvenience ourselves as farmers as well, and I’m very doubtful as to what benefit it would be here in Northern Ireland because the policy here would be dictated by what happens in Westminster – and we’re a fair bit away from there.
"So I think the protests would have limited use here.
"Now I do see the relevance maybe in southern Ireland where they can have a direct influence on the government, and the government in southern Ireland makes the decisions for their own farmers.
"I can see a point to doing it down south, but up here I wouldn’t be a big fan of it now to be quite honest.”
There was a ‘go-slow’ fuel protest in Strabane on Saturday for the second week in a row, and there are rumours of a repeat of last Tuesday’s protests this coming Friday.
Details of a claimed protest at 4pm that day have been circulated on various Facebook pages, with the following sites listed: Tesco distribution centre, Boucher Road, Belfast; Asda distribution centre, Larne; T-junction, Westbank Road, Belfast Port; Lidl distribution centre, Nutts Corner; P&O, Larne Harbour; Seatruck, Warrenpoint; Belfast International Airport; and the oil terminals at Airport Road and Airport Road West, east Belfast.
However, several protests which were claimed to be happening in the past fortnight failed to materialise.
That included a claim that demonstrators would converge on four roundabouts in Ballymena at 5pm last Friday.
In the event, nothing happened.