So there we have it. After two arduous months (for all of us), Liz Truss has seen her campaigning paid off. She is now the official successor to Boris Johnson as the leader of the Conservative Party, and will become our new prime minister.

After what she termed “one of the longest job interviews in history”, Truss saw off the challenge of arch-rival Rishi Sunak with a 57.4% share of the Tory membership’s vote, and will be formally appointed as the UK’s third female PM tomorrow, following an audience with the Queen at Balmoral.

In a measured but sometimes-stilted victory speech – far removed from the bluster of her predecessor – there were echoes of Truss’ past clunky addresses to the party faithful (pork markets, anyone?). See the slightly cringey eulogy to Johnson, which elicited a delayed round of applause.

Truss then committed to “a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy” and pledged to tackle issues such as the energy crisis and a struggling NHS. As she put it: “we will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver”.

Short of that promise to “deliver” though, the former environment, international trade (and now) foreign secretary gave little insight into how she planned to govern and (ahem) deliver us from what is shaping up to be the country’s biggest financial crisis for several generations.

More detail will doubtless be unveiled when Truss makes the traditional address to the nation from No 10 tomorrow. But we may have to wait a bit longer to find out the details of her plans for the food industry.

Track record

During her campaign, Truss was keen to make all the right noises when it came to the sector.

In her two years at Defra, her standout policy moves included implementing efficiency savings to its budget of 15%, while launching a much-vaunted 25-year food and farming plan in 2015 – that was quietly dumped by Defra in 2018.

Back then, of course, Truss was also a Remainer, and faced criticism by the Commons Efra committee in January 2016 over the fact she had no plan B for a vote to leave the EU.

Then as international trade secretary, she was the architect of key trade deals with the likes of New Zealand and Australia, which have drawn criticism from the UK food sector over claims they fail to  protect UK food standards.

But in an NFU hustings event held last Thursday, a pledge to “stand up” for farmers and the food sector was warmly welcomed by NFU president Minette Batters.

Truss also promised to expand the Seasonal Worker visa scheme, adding she would “make sure the Home Office engages” on the issue.

And she bemoaned the red tape faced by food producers, while pledging to “do more to enable farmers to grow food” as part of a “refocus” towards improving self-sufficiency and food security.

All this is a far cry from the recent mood music emanating from a No 10, which has often appeared disinterested in the ‘F’ part of Defra in recent years.

After all, some of Boris Johnson’s premiership’s standout food policy moves included a big bet on interventionist issues such as the rewilding of farmland, disregarding most of Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy and falling out with pig producers when the outgoing PM casually dismissed the plight of a pork sector in the midst of a backlog crisis on farm.

Truss, of course, should be a different animal, and in the few hours since her election was announced this lunchtime, her elevation to the premiership has been largely welcomed in food sector circles.

But after making so many bold promises about how she would cut taxes and improve growth – something she described as a “fair” move for high earners yesterday – this could be a very short honeymoon unless Truss grapples with the myriad urgent issues in her inbox.

An urgent to-do list

On the food front, these issues range from concerns around the impact of trade deals, to the future of the National Food Strategy (and plans for a new and “complicated” Data Transparency Partnership for the food sector), plus HFSS regulations and whether she will rip up the Northern Ireland protocol, potentially pitching the UK into a trade war with the EU.

Then there are the wider issues threatening to cripple the country’s economy. In a letter signed by a raft of food sector trade bodies on Friday, the incoming PM was urged to take “urgent action” to mitigate the cost of crippling industry energy bills, or see thousands of small and medium-sized companies go bust.

Food businesses were “facing unsustainable increases in energy prices on top of multiple supply chain challenges”, said the letter, signed by organisations including the Provision Trade Federation, the British Meat Processors Association, the British Poultry Council, the Federation of Wholesale Distributors and the Federation of Bakers.

That sentiment was echoed by BRC CEO Helen Dickinson, who stressed “businesses need clarity on the government’s intentions as soon as possible so they can understand the inflationary impact of any policy decisions”.

One way the government could help would be by freezing the business rates multiplier for all retail businesses for the next financial year, therefore “protecting the industry from rates increases linked to inflation, and giving greater scope to hold down prices, protect jobs, and support the economy”, Dickinson suggested.

Cutting VAT for the hospitality sector to 12.5%, while also introducing a business rates holiday and deferring environmental levies, were floated by UKHospitality, meanwhile.

All in all then, plenty for Truss to do. And if she wants to stay in power, deliver she must.

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