Our farmers are the backbone of rural Britain. They are vital food producers and custodians of our countryside. But the Labour government clearly do not understand that – or worse, they simply do not care.
In last week’s Budget Rachel Reeves announced that family farms will now be subject to Inheritance Tax. This strikes at the heart of farming life. Many farmers will have grown up on the farms they now work, and have raised their own families there.
Now their children will face breaking up the farm, or selling up completely, to pay Labour’s family farm tax.
I represent one of the most rural constituencies in the country, I know how worried many will now be for the future.
Perhaps Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves should have taken the time to get out of the city and speak to some of those they are hitting with this tax.
Family farms are not simply financial assets ripe for a tax raid. Many families have worked the same land for generations and have no intention of ever selling.
Now they may be forced to by this short-sighted decision.
Farmers already face huge challenges, often struggling simply to keep things going from year to year. They have to contend with the uncertainties of the weather, diseases, volatile global markets and much more besides.
But most do not do it for the profit, of which there is often very little.
It is not just a business, it is a way of life.
At the heart of that way of life is the family. Without the security of knowing they can pass on their farm to the next generation, that will be put at risk.
And without our farmers we will only become more reliant on foreign imports. Our economy, our countryside, our rural communities will all suffer.
In their manifesto the Labour Party said they would champion British farmers. Just as they said they would not raise National Insurance. And just as they said at the election that they had no plans to cut Winter Fuel Payments.
It is the duty of the Conservatives in Opposition to hold this government to account for all of those broken promises. As Shadow Chancellor, that is precisely what I will do. If Labour want to wage war on our farmers, we will fight them every step of the way.
