Sir Keir Starmer has insisted his party is not “too urban” to understand the concerns of farmers.
Thousands working in the agricultural sector have descended on London today to voice their dismay at Labour’s inheritance tax changes.
Speaking to GB News, the Prime Minister responded to Labour peer Baroness Mallalieu saying her own party’s inheritance tax raid shows its leaders are out of touch with the concerns of rural communities.
“My first job was on a farm”, Starmer hit back.
Keir Starmer says he is on the side of farmers
GB NEWS
“I grew up on the countryside. All my entire family live in the countryside and we are a rural family. I am the only one that lives in the city.
“I do get it and that’s why I am able to say with confidence that the threshold for a typical case of £3 million is a very high threshold.
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“Therefore, the vast majority of farms will be unaffected. I also do know it matters to rural communities that we are investing in their NHS, they rely on it just as much as anybody a town or city.
“It matters that their schools are fit for children and it matters hugely that there is enough housing.”
Asked by GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope about farmers being “very cross” about Starmer’s inheritance tax plans, the PM was keen to “point out” a key aspect of the policy.
“I want to support our farmers, and it’s extremely important that we do”, he said.
Chopper questioned Keir Starmer on his commitment to the UK agricultural sector
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“That’s why in the Budget, we invested £5 billion over the next two years in farming on food sustainability.
“That’s hugely important for farmers and an additional amount of money for flooding which impacts them and on disease outbreak.
“On questions about inheritance tax, which is at the heart of this concern, what I point out is that for a typical case where parents want to pass on a farm to one of their children, which will be a very typical family farm situation, then by the time the inheritance tax thresholds are all in the place, it will be £3 million.
“That means the vast majority of farms will be unaffected.”
Farmers have reacted with fury to the inheritance tax changes for farming businesses, which limit the existing 100 per cent relief for farms to only the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property.
Some are concerned they will have to sell off land to meet the costs and are threatening to strike as a result.
NFU (National Farmers’ Union) president Tom Bradshaw gave a speech to members taking part in the mass lobby ahead of their meetings with MPs, at Church House, Westminster, in which he became emotional at moments as he highlighted the cost of the policy on farmers, as well as food security.
He said: “We know the horrendous pressure it is putting on the older generation of farmers who have given everything to providing food for this country.
“We know that any tax revenue will be taken from our children and raised from those that die in tragic circumstances, all within the next seven years.”
To sustained applause, he said: “The human impact of this policy is simply not acceptable, it’s wrong.”
