London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The British PM is ready to address the Welsh Labour conference, expressing pride in his government’s achievements and will not back down on the controversial measures outlined in Rachel Reeves’s budget.
Sir Keir Starmer will face the anger of rural communities over his government’s family farm tax, with a large number of Welsh farmers set to protest at Labour’s conference in Llandudno.
The prime minister will deliver his speech under pressure from hundreds of farmers, outraged by the new inheritance tax reforms, which could see farms worth over £1 million at 20% forcing families to sell or divide their farms.
The controversy has been fueled by apparent disagreement within Whitehall over the number of farms affected. Chancellor Rachel Reeves claims that it’s only 28% based on annual agricultural property relief applications, but the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs put the figures at 66%.
While adding more, a senior Labour grandee and former adviser, John McTernan, claimed that Britain does not need family farms, recommending Starmer to confront them as Margaret Thatcher did with the miners in the 1980s.
In a statement released before today’s protest, farmers have warned to go on strike and disrupt Britain’s domestic food supply.
Thousands of farmers are set to gather in Webstiminder for a larger protest on Tuesday. The event received so much support that the police and organizers were forced to change the event location as Trafalgar Square was too small to accommodate the crowd.
North Wales farmers, while preparing for today’s protests, stated that “enough is enough” arguing that the inheritance tax changes are just one part of a broader set of measures putting the future of British farms at risk.
They gave a direct message to Sir Keir Starmer saying, “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”.
Moreover, they stated, “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 not happy over tough rules on nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZ) and tuberculosis (TB) imposed by the Welsh Labour government concerns they say will worsen under the upcoming sustainable farming scheme (SFS).
Around 3,000 farmers gathered in Cardiff in March this year against the Welsh Labour government’s policies.
In another statement issued by farmers of North Welsh, they stated, “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”.
“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”.
Farmers announced that this coming Sunday many farmers will begin a strike.
Gareth Wyn Jones, one of the organizers, a Welsh farmer and YouTuber, told the Sky News that farmers will deliver a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer which starts with, “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Mr Jones added, “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 warned that changes to inheritance tax would force farmers to raise food prices, stating “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”.
Wyn Jones rejected the government figures and argued that just 500 farming estates in the UK would be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
He stated, “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”.