Keir Starmer was condemned at PMQs after a minister was caught telling farmers that they are ‘not high up on the government’s pecking order’, just a day after the latest major protest in Whitehall.
Environment minister Daniel Zeichner was speaking at the Norfolk Farming Conference when he was confronted over Rachel Reeves’ hated inheritance tax hike on hardworking land owners.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Tory MP Harriet Cross condemned the comments.
She said: “Yesterday the farming minister told a conference of farmers that farming is ‘not high in the pecking order for this government’.”
“Given the heartless family farms tax, is his minister correct? Yes or no.”
A humiliated Prime Minister was forced to slap down his minister for the comments, insisting: “Farming’s top of the agenda as far as I’m concerned”.
His reply sparked merciless laughter from the opposition benches.
Sir Keir continued: “That’s why we’ve put £5 million to support farmers in the Budget, they failed to spend £300 million on their watch on farming, and we’ve set out our roadmap which has been welcomed by the NFU as she very well knows.”
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