We are in a Food and Farming Emergency. As food prices continue to climb, partially thanks to last year’s disastrous Budget, farmers have been forced to campaign for their own survival. From areas like my own in Lincolnshire to the Southwest and beyond, the mood is the same: anguish, misery, and a despairing conviction that this Government is targeting rural and coastal communities.
As readers of the Express know well, the Family Farm and Family Business Taxes epitomise this despair and anguish. For most farmers, land is not a luxury asset, it is their working capital, their pension, their home and their children’s future. Aside from the damage to food security and the rural economy, these taxes are also exacting a terrible human toll. Farmers are taking tragic decisions to stop their family farm being broken up and their loved ones facing tax bills they can never hope to pay.
The stories are heartbreaking: a father of small children taking his own life because of the worry of this tax; the 92-year-old grandmother who has told her family they need not worry as she will not be here when the tax comes into force; the teenage boy who found his father’s body.
This is an emergency that the Prime Minister, Chancellor, and Defra Secretary of State are wilfully ignoring. Well, neither farmers, nor the Conservatives, will back down.
Tomorrow morning, farmers will take to the streets of Whitehall to make themselves heard on Budget Day. Their message will be stark: listen to us, or risk losing Britain’s food security. No responsible Government can continue to shrug off that warning.
Family farms and businesses will be watching the Budget on Wednesday with bated breath to see if the Prime Minister and Chancellor have finally listened to their calls. If Labour do change course, be under no doubt it will be because of the relentless campaigning of the farming community, family businesses and the Conservatives Party over the last year.
The Conservatives have made a solemn promise to farmers and family businesses: we will axe these taxes when we are back in government. This is because the countryside has long been a cornerstone of Conservative Britain — proud, hardworking, and rooted in family and community. It is the right thing to do and is one of the ways in which the Conservatives, under new leadership, will build a stronger countryside and stronger country.
Mental health support for farmers is available via https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/find-wellbeing-support-in-your-area/
Victoria Arkins is the Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary
