KICK IN THE BULLOCKS
We’ve been shafted by Labour, blasts Jeremy Clarkson as farmers slam Budget and warn of food shortages
Tory MPs warned the Budget could 'spell the end of family farms'
BRITAIN’S farmers say Chancellor Rachel Reeves is risking food shortages with her Budget tax raid on their land.
Agricultural workers threatened protests as they railed against a new 20 per cent inheritance levy slapped on farms and equipment worth over £1million.
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And they warned family farms may have to be sold off, leading to a dramatic drop in food production and supplies running low.
Ms Reeves was also accused of “signing a death warrant” for thousands of multi-generational businesses as the tax is imposed on other family-run firms for the first time since 1970.
Gareth Wyn Jones, who runs Tyn Llwyfan Farm in Wales, told The Sun: “I’m sure Labour could’ve found a better way to find money than targeting working class family farms. It just feels like another kick in the bullocks.”
Mr Jones said the raid, estimated to hit 70,000 farms, could force families to sell up.
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This would lead to a huge drop in home-grown food supplies and increased dependence on foreign produce.
He said: “Affordable food is produced by farmers.
Rachel Reeves has f***ed all farmers
Kirstie Allsopp
“What we’re going to do is lose land. If these family farms are hit with a big bill after a bereavement, they’ll have to sell.”
The Chancellor has reduced inheritance tax relief for farms, which means a 20 per cent charge will apply on those worth over £1million when the owners die.
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Clive Bailey, an arable farmer in Staffordshire, said the agricultural sector could unleash “massive disruption” in response.
He told Times Radio: “When people find themselves in situations where they have nothing to lose, they become quite dangerous people.”
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“Farmers have a huge ability to cause massive disruption if they went that route.”
Farmer Richard Payne, of Somerset, said he has urged his son not to continue the family career as it has become “completely unviable” after the Budget.
He added controversial “factory farms” could soon be all that remains of the industry.
He said: “Everyone says they don’t want factory farming, but I can see that will be one answer out of this.”
Sun columnist and Diddly Squat Farm owner Jeremy Clarkson said farmers have been “shafted” — and TV property expert Kirstie Allsopp accused Ms Reeves of having “f***ed all farmers”.
Tory MPs warned the Budget could “spell the end of family farms”.
They accused Environment and Farming Secretary Steve Reed of betraying the sector, having promised last year “we have no intention of changing” inheritance tax on farms.
The National Farmers Union said the move would “snatch away the next generation’s ability to produce food”.
Mo Metcalfe, of the Countryside Alliance, told The Sun: “This is a hammer blow to small family farmers, who work hard to produce food and who only want to be able to pass down their farm to the next generation.
“I fear the Chancellor has grossly underestimated the anger and hurt this has caused.”
But Ms Reeves insisted landowners should pay tax just like “middle-class families do”.
She said: “Seventy-three per cent of farms and agricultural property will not be affected at all, so this does protect smaller farms.
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“At the moment, you can have some of the wealthiest landowners, not farmers, in this country who pay no inheritance tax, while middle-class families do.
“That is not right, and that's why we’ve closed that loophole.”
Ms Reeves was also blasted for imposing 20 per cent inheritance tax on previously-exempt family-run firms worth over £1million.
Levy relief for multi-generational businesses was introduced by Labour in the 1970s.
Funeral director Charlie Field, whose business employs 300 people and dates back 300 years, told The Sun the tax could be a “final nail in the coffin”.
He said: “The Chancellor’s ill-thought-out intervention in the Budget could spell the death of multi-generation businesses, including my own.”
Neil Davey, boss of the Family Business UK group, said he had spent months warning the Treasury that removing relief for ancestral businesses would be devastating.
Farmers have been shafted by Labour
Jeremy Clarkson
He said: “Inheritance tax reliefs are not loopholes.
“They ensure businesses and farms do not have to be broken up on the death of the owner, to the detriment of all the remaining employees, suppliers, customers and investors.”
Ex-Labour Chancellor Ed Balls yesterday said: “It’s one of those things where you just wonder, ‘Has the Treasury really thought through all the hard cases?’."
Tom Bradshaw of the National Farmers Union said: “Just because a farm is valuable as an asset, it doesn’t mean those who work it are wealthy.”
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Shadow Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Labour has introduced a family farm tax without considering the life-changing impact.”
PM Sir Keir Starmer told the NFU conference just last year: “Every day seems to bring a new existential threat to British farming. You deserve better.”
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