British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will address the Welsh Labour conference where he will tell delegates he is proud of his government’s achievements and will not compromise on measures in Rachel Reeves’ controversial budget. The address will take place amid fury in rural communities across the UK over the Family Farm Tax, according to The Independent.
In the meantime, farmers are protesting over the Family Form Tax, suggesting that farms worth more than £1 million will be taxed at 20 per cent for the first time, forcing families to split up or sell farms. North Wales farmers said that “enough is enough” warning that the inheritance tax changes are part of a package of measures that threaten the future of farms in Britain. They said in a direct message to Starmer:
Today you can see the depth of feeling and concerns that you are creating as the PM of this country towards the rural areas and farming community. The outcome of your Budget highlights the government’s incapacity to look at the position as a whole rather than a tick box exercise to fulfil your selfless ambition.
The apparent disagreement in Whitehall over the number of farms affected is also adding fuel to the fire. Reeves cited figures of 28 per cent based on how many people applied for help on agricultural property each year, but figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs suggest the figure could be as high as 66 per cent. On top of this, senior Labour MP and former councillor John McTernan claimed that the UK does not need family farms and suggested Starmer should treat them in the same way Margaret Thatcher treated miners in the 1980s.
Welsh farmers are already angry at the draconian restrictions imposed by the Welsh Labour government in Cardiff on nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs) and tuberculosis (TB), which they claim will worsen with the looming Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS). Some 3,000 farmers travelled to Cardiff in March this year to protest against the Labour government.
In the Second World War farmers were not part of conscription as they were considered as the backbone of the country keeping the population fed. This has continued to this day, However, your intentions are suffocating the food producers, destroying the rural communities creating apathy across the nation. This cumulative approach has created despair in the countryside to the most vulnerable in the rural community, the reality is that as food supplies decrease it will become more expensive and the poorest in our whole society will suffer the most, the statement continued.
A much larger protest with thousands of farmers is due to take place in Westminster on Tuesday. The event has attracted so much support that police and organisers were forced to change its location because Trafalgar Square is not big contain everyone involved.
