The UK has its newly appointed Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. Born in Southampton, UK, on May 12, 1980, Sunak graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2006.
Sunak’s spouse, Akshata Narayan Murthy (m. 2009), age 42, born in India, is the daughter of a Multinational IT company Infosys's founder, Nagavara Ramarao (N.r.) Narayana Murthy CBE LH is an Indian Billionaire. Akshata is a UK-based Indian businesswoman, fashion designer and venture capitalist. Rishi and Akshata met at Stanford University, where their friendship grew into love and marriage.
Akshata’s brother and N.r. Narayana Murthy’s son, Rohan Murthy, age 39, born in India, is an Entrepreneur, a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and founder and chief technical officer of the digital transformation company Soroco, which specializes in automation using artificial intelligence sources.
Rohan married Aparna Krishnan (m. 2019) and was earlier married to TVS heiress Lakshmi Venu (m. 2011-2015). Lakshmi is a joint managing director at Sundaram Clayton.
What is it for the UK now?
Inflation: “It’s never been more important to grip inflation and I have a plan that will tackle the cost of living so we can cut taxes later,” said Rishi Sunak.
Supporter of Ukraine Sunak said, “We will keep supporting your brave fighters to protect your citizens, we will keep providing humanitarian aid to ensure you have access to medication and food, and we will keep sheltering your loved ones until they can return home safely and sleep soundly..”
“Our country faces real challenges and I want to be straight with you about what is going to be required to fix those,” said Sunak, highlighting his ten-point plan.
Rishi Sunak's ten-point plan for UK as outlined on rishisunak.com in his own words:
More retailers giving farmers a fair deal Ensure every major retailer follows the lead of some supermarkets in paying a fair price for British dairy produce.
An end to milk being used as a ‘loss leader’ Many supermarkets now charge only £1 for four pints. While supermarkets often absorb this loss themselves, this kind of pricing has the effect of forcing down prices in the entire market as smaller retailers struggle to compete.
Better labelling of British produce Many consumers are unaware that a number of the major cheddar brands on the shelves are produced in Europe. We need clear packaging that empowers consumers to buy British.
More domestic production of dairy products Two thirds of our cheese and 30 per cent of our butter is imported. We need to invest more in processing technology to make sure we are adding value to British milk by turning more of it into British butter, yogurt and cheese.
More supply chain transparency and enforcement We know how much a farmer gets paid for a pint of milk, and we know how much we pay for it in the shops. What we don’t know is how big the margins are in-between. We need to work towards the kind of transparency that allows us to follow milk from farmer to shelf. This then has to be enforced by a tough Grocery Code Adjudicator.
More dairy Producer Organisations Groups of farmers banding together to negotiate a better sale price for milk and a lower purchase price for feed and machinery are commonplace across Europe. In the UK we currently have only one such producer organisation. We need more.
Government must buy British National government is working hard to purchase British dairy products, but we must push local government, hospitals, schools, and military establishments to do the same.
A working dairy futures market Futures are a way for farmers to agree a pre-arranged price for milk they will produce in the future. The price stability this can give has the potential to be invaluable to the volatile dairy industry.
Review of levy board spending Every dairy farmer in the UK currently pays a percentage of their income to a government-run levy board (AHDB Dairy). Many farmers feel that more of that money needs to be spent promoting the benefits of milk and encouraging consumers to choose British.
Immediate financial assistance The EU has announced a €500m crisis fund to support vulnerable dairy farmers and we must get our fair share. Also, it is important that regular CAP payments made to farmers should be made as quickly as possible to ease cash flow. Lastly, HMRC and banks must be flexible in how they treat farmers. Recently, I spoke to an 80-year-old farmer who told me that in a lifetime of dairy farming he had never seen times so bad. With farm gate milk prices falling 30 per cent in a year – in many cases below the cost of production – it’s far from an exaggeration. We can’t kid ourselves that there is a magic wand that can solve the global problems with the dairy market. But after speaking to local farmers, government ministers and industry experts I believe there is more that both the Government and the industry can be doing to help.
“This plan represents the ten key steps that can, and must, be taken if we are to protect this valuable part of our rural community. Without its dairy farmers, Yorkshire’s magical landscape would soon see its lush fields turn to scrub and its dry-stone-walls go unrepaired. Meanwhile, with Britain already only 60 per cent self-sufficient in food, our country’s ability to feed itself in a time of crisis would be diminished. It is crucial that we work together to get through the current crisis”, outlined Rishi Sunak on his website.
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