A West Country MP has urged farmers to make their voices heard, as he believes that new opportunities will be available for the industry after Brexit.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, conservative MP for the largely rural constituency of Bridgwater and West Somerset, is concerned by the absence of any cast-iron Government commitment to continue supporting the farming industry.

He also thinks that delivering environmental goals is only possible by first establishing a prosperous farming community.

Mr Liddell-Grainger thinks that UK Farming has enormous potential to grow and diversify once Britain leaves the EU.

He said: "The one great thing Brexit will give us will be the ability to sing the praises of our food and drink as among the finest in the world without being told we’re not allowed to.

“We have fantastic opportunities ahead to market and export, to produce more flexibly so we provide the country with more of the food it needs when it needs it – and to create a far more exciting, dynamic and successful farming sector than we have seen for at least two generations.

“But it is also essential that all farmers get involved in the debate through their MPs as we start drawing up the blueprint. Farmers, not politicians or civil servants, are the real experts in agricultural matters and their views count.

“One of the most alarming statements I have heard in recent days is the assertion that the supermarket price war will continue to deliver cheap food to the British consumer – because that ignores the fact that the price war has driven many farmers out of business and is threatening to do the same to many more.

“This is the sort of issue farmers themselves need to be raising. And it’s no good them simply sitting back and relying on the NFU, with its spectacular record of non-achievement, to represent the farming communities and the rural heartlands because it isn’t up to the job.

“Whatever means it takes, whether public meetings or petitions, or poster campaigns, the needs of the industry must be laid out and made clear so they can be taken into consideration as we map the future for one of the world’s great farming sectors.”