Green shoots? Burnham cultivates rural links in attempt to ‘build back trust’ with farmers

Ministers have been speaking to farming activists to try to build bridges after tax changes introduced under Starmer soured relations

As an arable farmer, Olly Harrison’s WhatsApp messages are normally concerned with the more mundane matters of working the land: logistics, supplies and the occasional chat about the weather.

So when a recent message came through from Andy Burnham, it was more than a little unexpected.