‘Look after us!’ Farmer issues heartfelt plea to Labour – ‘Where do you want your food coming from?!’
A farmer has made an emotional plea to Labour, begging them to “look after us” after inheritance tax changes threaten his family’s multi-generational farming legacy.
Under Labour’s Budget announcement last month, family farms will see significant changes to their inheritance tax relief.
The 100 per cent relief currently enjoyed by farming families will be limited to the first £1million of combined agricultural and business property.
Craig, a farmer said: “This inheritance tax stuff that is going to hit us massively, we’ve got three generations here wanting to carry on, and we don’t know if we’re going to be able to carry on because of what you’re doing to us.”
“Where do you want you for coming from? Look after us, make food cheap, make it cheaper for your public then you’ll win some votes and you’ll win some hearts as well.
He added: “They don’t have a clue. They wouldn’t know a day’s work if it hit them in the face.”
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“I don’t understand where they’re going to get all the food from.
“There’s a shortage of food now, a crisis really. They are wanting less of us. What are you going to do? I just don’t understand.”
“It’s heartbreaking really, because we don’t know where we’re going to be. And my brother’s lad is six year old now.
“We’re wanting him to carry on, and he’s really interested. But is it going to happen? Probably not.”
For assets above this threshold, landowners will face a 20 per cent tax rate, rather than the standard 40 per cent inheritance tax rate applied to other land and property.
The changes have sparked concern across the farming community, with thousands of farmers planning to rally in Westminster next week to protest against what critics are calling the “family farm tax.”
The protest will also address other Budget measures, including the delinking of payments and increases in national insurance for working farms.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has strongly defended the policy, insisting the government’s figures are “crystal clear.”
“Three quarters of farmers will pay nothing” under the new system, Reed maintained during questioning in the Commons.
Environment minister Daniel Zeichner reinforced this position, stating that “fewer than 500 will be affected” by the changes to agricultural property relief.
“Listen to the tax experts, listen to the people who have actually looked at it in detail,” Zeichner urged MPs.
The minister suggested the policy could have positive effects, noting: “One of the beneficial aspects of this policy may be to get the generational shift that farming so much needs in this country.”