Keir Starmer’s war on farmers, rural communities, and our ability to protect our green and pleasant land seems never-ending. His government has battered them with a series of terrible policy announcements, pushing the custodians of our countryside to the brink, along with the nature they protect.
We keep hoping with every new DEFRA announcement that this is the last, thinking that ministers surely can’t find another way to strip back farmers’ financial support and undermine our natural environment. But with the spending review fast approaching, Steve Reed and Rachel Reeves are coming back for more. We can all see the UK’s finances are overstretched.
Our finances have been worsened by Labour’s disastrous Employer’s National Insurance hike, which has undermined business confidence, and its string of expensive white elephants, like GB Energy and the National Wealth Fund. It seems obvious, but to grow an economy, you must cut taxes, streamline regulation, and empower businesses and consumers alike to invest in the economy. But when it comes to the rural economy, Labour has taken the complete opposite approach.
From farms big and small, from those starting their agricultural journey to those who have farmed their land for generations, no farmer is being spared from Labour’s actions. The Labour government has decided that an industry that contributes £13 billion to our economy, feeds our nation, and protects our iconic countryside deserves to have its financial support cut and its taxes increased to pay for the government’s own economic mistakes.
Firstly, they restricted Agricultural Property Relief. This sudden increase in Inheritance Tax bills will spell the end for many generational farming families, who have fed this country and tended our countryside for decades. This was already a brutal blindside from a government that promised it wouldn’t interfere with the relief. But the government didn’t stop there.
Steve Reed then announced he would be speeding up the removal of a farmer’s Basic Payment Scheme whilst stopping any new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), the most accessible way for farmers to continue to receive government support for protecting the environment as we transition away from the much maligned EU farm payment system.
Labour will argue that there is still the landmark, Conservative policy known as Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) that can provide farmers with the financial support they need. ELMs are indeed the cornerstone for financial support for farmers, with a wider variety of different funding streams, including the now paused SFIs.
ELMs have gradually replaced the old and outdated EU payment scheme and have proven to be a significant upgrade for both farmers and nature. Instead of just paying farmers for how much land they own, the amount of financial support they receive depends on the scale of environmental practices they sign up for.
This massively benefits smaller farmers, who are now supported to utilise their land to its full potential, for food production and the environment, boosting their profit margins. As farmers recognise, some land just isn’t worth farming. This might be because of its susceptibility to flooding or low quality soil, meaning parcels of their land don’t lend themselves to growing crops in a financially viable way.
Instead of eating into farmers’ profit margins, ELMs empower farmers to farm their land in new and innovative ways that also benefit the wider rural community. ELMs can provide financial support for anything from planting trees, creating new habitats for wildlife, or even building natural flood defences.
Farmers care deeply for the wellbeing of their land, so this is a win-win for nature, farmers and Britain. Given the importance of ELMs for both farmers and nature, you would think Labour wouldn’t undermine this critical funding stream any further. But you won’t be surprised to learn cuts the Chancellor is now eyeing up cuts to the ELMs budget. This will mean far fewer farmers can be supported to farm in a more nature-friendly way. Enough is enough. Farmers and consumers deserve better. Ministers went too far with restricting APR. Then they paused new SFI applications. Now they are just kicking the proverbial dog by coming after the farming budget.
Labour cannot keep breaking their manifesto promises. They promised to protect farmers and our countryside. But they have completely failed to do so. We must support our farmers and protect our natural environment – it is time to stand up for nature once again, or the British countryside will never be the same.
