Farmers told: Stop living in fantasy of the past

Lord Haskins, the Government's outspoken adviser on rural recovery, avoided confrontation with farmers yesterday when he made his first visit to Cumbria to meet those hit financially by the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The peer, chairman of the food processing giant Northern Foods, was unrepentant, repeating comments that farmers who relied on handouts were "living on borrowed time". He said one in five farmers who had received compensation payments would leave farming.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) described the remarks as "unhelpful" but said it wanted to work with Lord Haskins to save the area from ruin in the months ahead.

There were none of the angry scenes that greeted Tony Blair's visits to Cumbria in recent weeks as Lord Haskins arrived in Penrith for talks with the NFU, tourism leaders and local authority representatives.

Speaking after the meeting, he denied claiming that farmers were "mollycoddled", but insisted that the farming industry had to change.

He said: "I think that the idea of turning the clock back is not the way of dealing with the problems in Cumbria today. We have to turn the clock forward. The future is looking at the future, not building up fantasies of the past, like some people might think."

Lord Haskins plans to spend two days a week in Cumbria meeting ordinary farmers and businessmen and women, before reporting to the Prime Minister next month.

The peer's intervention received a welcome from Nick Utting, secretary of the Carlisle branch of the NFU. Mr Utting said: "He is an outspoken sort of chap but sometimes this gets things done."