The Agriculture Bill is currently passing through the House of Commons and, in my role as Shadow Minister for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, I will be devoting considerable time trying to make sure it properly supports food production, farming and our environment.

I am leading for the Opposition on this Bill, which means that over the next two months I will spend two days a week scrutinising every aspect, and so I felt it was important to explain to Stroud constituents why this was necessary.

The Bill represents the most important change to British farming since the 1947 Agriculture Act.

For a Bill to pass into an Act, it goes through several stages.

It receives its First Reading in parliament with no debate.

The Second Reading is when the Bill’s key principles are debated.

For the Agriculture Bill, the Labour Opposition put down a reasoned amendment calling for improvements to the Bill, which was defeated.

The Bill then ‘passes upstairs’ to the Committee Stage, when it undergoes line-by-line scrutiny. This is what I will be doing two days a week for the next two months.

Amendments to the Bill can be made at this stage if agreed by the Government or won in a vote.

The Bill is then Reported to the House, which is another opportunity for MPs to debate aspects before it has a Third Reading.

If voted for, it then passes to the House of Lords which may lead to further amendments.

For a Bill to become law takes at least six months and sometimes much longer.

However, when something as important as the future of our food production is at stake, it is important that I focus on ensuring this has proper scrutiny over the coming weeks.