Sir Keir Starmer is to get a taste of the fury in rural communities across the UK over his government’s family farm tax as scores of farmers in Wales descend on Labour’s conference in Llandudno.
The prime minister is set to address the Welsh Labour conference where he will tell delegates that he is proud of his government’s achievements so far and will not compromise on the measures in Rachel Reeves’ controversial Budget.
But the prime minister will be giving the speech under siege from hundreds of farmers enraged by the changes in inheritance tax which means farms over £1 million in value will be liable for the first time at 20 per cent, forcing families to break up or sell off farms.
The issue has been made worse by apparent disagreement in Whitehall over the number of farms affected. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has claimed it was only 28 per cent based on how many applied each year for agricultural property relief, but Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs figures suggest it could be as high as 66 per cent.
Added to that, a senior Labour grandee and former adviser, John McTernan, claimed that Britain does not need family farms and suggested Starmer should treat them like Margaret Thatcher dealt with the miners in the 1980s.
In a statement ahead of today’s protest, farmers have threatened to go on strike and cut off Britain’s domestic food supply.
A much bigger protest with thousands of farmers is set to take place in Westminster on Tuesday. The event has attracted so much support that the police and organisers were forced to change its location because Trafalgar Square is not big enough to contain everyone involved.
Ahead of today’s protests, North Wales farmers declared that “enough is enough” warning that the inheritance tax changes are part of a package of measures which threaten the future of farms in Britain.
In a direct message to Sir Keir, they said: “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 fulfill your selfless ambition.
“The inheritance tax debacle highlights this case, this new tax represents a considerable challenge not only for farmers but also the broader agricultural sector.
“The £1 million threshold is alarmingly low and many farmers will face impossible decisions to sell portions of their land to cover these costs.”
Welsh farmers were already angry because of draconian restrictions imposed by the Welsh Labnour government in Cardiff on nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZ) and tuberculosis (TB) which they believe will be exacerbated by the impending sustainable farming scheme (SFS).
In March this year around 3,000 farmers descended on Cardiff to protest against the Labour government,.
The statement continued: “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.”
They announced that from Sunday many farmers will in effect be going on strike.
”This is a last resort, many cannot afford this but there is growing anger in the countryside.As we see it the one thing that labour has achieved is to bring farmers,business community and rural areas together. We ask that you revisit the whole approach to farming and rural communities as a matter of urgency.”
Meanwhile, one of the organisers Gareth Wyn Jones, a Welsh farmer and YouTuber, told Sky News that farmers will deliver Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer a letter which starts “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Mr Wyn Jones said: “They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need Government support not more hinderance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax change will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to Government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the Government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”