Watch the moment GB News audience members scold Labour panellists in tense farming row: ‘Why do it?’
Watch the moment Labour panellists are confronted by angry farmers on GB News.
Ex-Labour minister Bill Rammell and current Labour MP Barry Gardiner joined Martin Daubney on GB News to face the music with an audience of workers from the agricultural sector.
Farmers across the country have been left furious by Labour’s decision to change inheritance tax rules.
From April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m, which were previously exempt, will be liable to the tax at 20 per cent.
Other allowances could mean a couple who are married or in a civil partnership are able to pass on a farm worth as much as £3m.
Gardiner argued farmers across the country are getting a bad deal due to 14 years of Conservative rule.
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“This government, as part of the Budget, has put the largest investment in sustainable farming there has ever been”, he said.
“We have increased the ways in which farmers can access that money from 23 ways under the Conservative farmers to over 100 under the new regulations.
“50 per cent of farmers were earning between £0-£25,000 a year. Why after 14 years of a Conservative administration, that is what they’re getting? They’ve had a bad deal from the Government.
“What we’re trying to do with the £5bn we’re investing in the sustainable farming initiative is make farming profitable.”
Gardiner’s remarks were met with some audience members shaking their heads, something which did not go unnoticed by GB News’s Martin Daubney.
“The farmers on the front row do not look convinced”, he chimed in.
“I tell you who will be convinced, it’s the people watching this who won’t be farmers”, he responded.
An exasperated Martin hit back: “They’re the most important people in the whole damn argument!”
Ex-Labour minister Bill Rammell’s comments only served to irk audience members further as he said there is a “gulf of understand of what is happening”.
He continued: “The Treasury has estimated only 500 farms out of 209,000 will be affected. Before people shake their heads, that has been independently verified by the Office for Budget and Responsibility (OBR) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
“If it could be bottomed out that only 500 farms out of 209,000 would be affected, would people in this audience support it?”
His question was met with scepticism from audience members with shouts questioning “why do it at all?” and accusations of “cherrypicking”.
“They’re farmers and they don’t agree with you”, said Martin. “They’re the ones working in the industry and they don’t feel it’s supporting them. Surely their voice counts.”