Farmer Esther Rog has blaster Keir Starmer for “shafting farmers” as soon as he got into power.
The comments come after Labour has defeated a Conservative motion to scrap controversial inheritance tax changes affecting farmers, with 339 MPs voting against and 181 in favour in the House of Commons this afternoon.
The defeat comes amid intense debate over Labour’s new policy that will require farmers to pay inheritance tax on agricultural property for the first time.
Speaking to GB News, farmer Esther Rog said: “I was at the NFU conference last year when Keir Starmer stood up and said he fully supports family farming and that family farming is different to any other type of business.
Esther said that Starmer has “shafted farmers”
GB News
“And so he said that. But when it comes to the opportunity to actually put these things into power, he seems to have shafted us.”
She added: “The frustration is it has actually hurt the future of farming.
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“I was talking to somebody who’s responsible for giving out grants. And he said a few people have actually withdrawn their grant applications.
“They have no confidence in the future, they don’t want to invest because they just feel, how are we going to be able to do all this?
“It’s not only that we have got the family farming tax, we’ve also got the other the drop in our link payments is that’s going to have a huge impact on our our bottom line figure next year.
“So we’ve got all the immediate things to hand to handle, not just the family farming tax. We seem to be in attacked on all fronts.
Farmers protesting against the changes in London
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“And on top of that, we’ve had the worst 18 months of weather that I can remember and it’s still wet.”
The Conservative Party had moved to challenge the changes, which they claim could threaten the future of family farming across Britain.
The vote marks a significant moment in the ongoing dispute over what opponents have dubbed the “family farm tax.”
Under the new measures announced at the Budget, farmers will now face a 20 per cent inheritance tax on agricultural property and land worth more than £1million.
Farmers have been protesting Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget policy
PA
Ministers maintain the changes will affect only the wealthiest quarter of landowners.
There are stark differences between official estimates and industry predictions about the impact of these changes.
The Treasury estimates around 500 estates per year will be affected by the new inheritance tax rules.
However, the National Farmers’ Union suggests that “some three-quarters of farms will be affected.”
