Rachel Reeves has been warned her “toxic Budget cocktail” is the “final nail in the coffin” for farmers.
Farming influencer, Gareth Wyn Jones, and Liz Webster of Save British Farming joined thousands of angry farmers outside Parliament on Wednesday to protest against the Chancellor’s Budget changes.
Mr Wyn Jones, speaking in Whitehall, central London, told Express.co.uk: “What made me want to turn out today was frustration, anger and wanting to protect the future for my children and other people’s children on the land, producing food affordably for this nation.”
Asked if the Labour Government’s changes to inheritance tax will destroy family farms, he said: “Definitely. They haven’t done their maths very well and we can see the baseline at £1 million was ridiculous. If they were going after the big landowners and the people with a lot of money, they would have lifted that to the top.”
As part of the Chancellor’s changes, a 20% inheritance tax (IHT) rate on farms worth more than £1m will be introduced. The changes also include speeding up the phase-out of EU-era subsidies.
Mr Wyn Jones said: “It’s frustrating because a lot of these farms aren’t making a profit anyway. They’re on their knees and I think this is the final nail in the agricultural coffin.”
Ms Webster, who founded the Save British Farming campaign group which organised the tractor protest with Kent Fairness for Farmers, said the Budget delivered a “toxic cocktail”.
She told Express.co.uk: “Farmers have had decades of really bad agricultural policy and being forced to work for nothing.
“We’ve done that because we feel the investment has gone into our farms and we’re able to pass them on to future generations but this Budget has delivered a toxic cocktail which is spelling the death knell for farming unless we get change.
“It’s robbery really because we’ve all invested hard in our farms, knowing that we’re working often for a loss, but the money’s gone into the farm.
“But now with this inheritance tax it means we’re going to have to sell our farms to pay for deaths.”
Mr Wyn Jones described the death tax change as a “bombshell” for farmers, especially after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told farmers at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference he would protect family farms.
Sir Keir told the NFU before the general election that Labour wanted a relationship based “on respect and genuine partnership”, adding farmers deserve a government “that listens”. He promised a “fairer, greener, more dynamic future” for British farming.
Instead, Mr Wyn Jones said Sir Keir’s “bombshell” Budget had forced farmers to take to the streets in protest. He added: “Farmers don’t want to be here right now. Farmers want to be tending to their crops, with their families, watching over their livestock. No farmer wants to be here protesting.”
Hundreds of farmers drove their tractors through the streets of Whitehall during the “RIP British Farming” protest. A minute’s silence was held for “farmers who are no longer here” amid concerns for the well-being of those grappling with the changes.
Will Elliott, 50, drove his tractor for three hours from his farm near Grafham, south of Guildford in Surrey, to attend the protest. He said: “The industry is already down on its knees and this is just another kick in the teeth.
“Obviously, the idea is that we want to pass it down to the next generation, but farmers are asset-rich, cash poor, we’re not going to have the money to pay the inheritance tax.”
Meanwhile, inside Parliament, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked if the Prime Minister would “change course”.
Conservative MP Jerome Mayhew accused Sir Keir of being “duplicitous” to farmers during the general election campaign.
In response, Sir Keir repeated the Government’s line that “the vast majority of farmers will be unaffected”. He sought to highlight the Government’s pledge to spend £5 billion on farming in the next two years, funding which maintains current levels.
