‘Final nail in the coffin!’ Kent farmers issue ‘heartbreaking’ plea to Reeves over ‘disastrous’ inheritance tax raid
Farmers in Kent have issued a “heartbreaking” plea to Rachel Reeves over her “disastrous” decision to launch an inheritance tax raid.
Fourth-generation farmer Kate Bastable, who was one of thousands to protest along Whitehall on Tuesday, told GB News about her fears following Labour’s decision to end death duty exemptions.
With her four children interested in the agricultural industry, Kate said that her older children – 18 and 21 – were now contemplating their future on Park Leigh Farm, near Tonbridge, if Reeves’ inheritance tax leaves them “saddled with a huge debt for the rest of their lives”.
Speaking to GB News about the mass demonstration, Bastable explained: “A lot of very angry people were there all just thinking of passing the farm onto their children, and the investment that they and their generations before them had made into the farm.
“It is just heartbreaking just to find out that we might not be able to pass it on in the same entirety.”
Kate explained that the community felt “very insulted” after Labour had previously vowed not to raise taxes for working people.
She added: “Most farmers I know are taking home less than the minimum wage. They work all hours of the day and night.
“It’s horrendous how [Labour has] misunderstood us and the whole industry. Disastrous.”
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Although the family has spent over a century on the land, the Bastables purchased the farm just eight years ago, taking out a hefty mortgage to do so and borrowing money to invest in farm equipment to develop it into a “good viable unit for [their] children to take on”.
Despite the Government claiming that the tax would only impact a handful of farmers across Britain, tenant farmer Ben Townsend said that the levy would have knock-on effects, regardless of individuals’ land ownership.
“Farmers are the backbone of Britain’s economy and, without them, no other business can grow because everyone needs to survive and eat,” he told GB News.
Townsend added: “There’s a lot more to it. The inheritance tax was a nail in the coffin.”
Townsend and the Bastable family represented the Kentish farming community in Whitehall on Tuesday, where they encountered people who had travelled from as far as Northern Ireland.
When asked about whether the farming community was worried when Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street, the tenant farmer said: “[Labour] never favoured the agricultural industry. As a whole, things were going to be set against us.”
Bastable said that she “doubts” the Government will respond, explaining that Reeves “seems as though she’s made a mistake” and “she realises what she’s done but she’s just not brave enough to face the music”.
Throwing the next move to Labour, the fourth-generation farmer declared: “The ball’s in their court now.”
Crowned the Garden of England by Henry VIII, Kent is home to the majority of farms across the South East, with an estimated 2,700 farms across the county alone.
In 2023, Kent County Council highlighted that farming businesses – whether arable or animal – accounted for almost 90 per cent of food and drink production in Kent.