Sir Gavin Williamson has demanded the Government apologise to farmers across Staffordshire after Labour’s slew of measures continue to deeply impact the viability of the sector as well as food security.
The family farm tax has dealt a hammer blow to farmers with many expressing their deep concern that they will not be able to pass their farm onto future generations. Other possibilities include scaling back expansion plans, reducing produce, and even cutting jobs.
Under successive Conservative Government’s, farmland was exempt from inheritance tax under a policy called ‘Agricultural Property Relief (APR).’ However, in the Budget the Chancellor announced that she will end this exemption by restricting APR.
This will mean that from April, a tax of 20% will apply to agricultural assets over £1 million. Many farmers earn less than the minimum wage, and have faced soaring energy costs as well as fertiliser and feeding bills.
The Family Farm Tax is not the only policy to hit farmers. The Government has also decided to accelerate the phase out of direct payments to farmers under the Basic Payment Scheme. It is estimated that all recipients will see the base amount of their payments cut by 76% this year.
Sir Gavin Williamson called for the Government to apologise to farmers during recent Parliamentary questions, with Minister Dan Tomlinson declining to do so.
Sir Gavin said: “Farmers are being continuously let down by punitive policies which are threatening the viability of the sector and causing chaos for our food security during geopolitical uncertainty.
“Labour are refusing to listen to the alarm bells that are being sounded by farmers and organisations including the National Farmers Union who are all calling for the Government to urgently row back on their attacks.
“I called for the Government to apologise in Parliament, which the Minister unsurprisingly refused to do. Instead, he provide a mediocre response and claimed ‘the Government is listening to farmers,’ – which is very strange as this is not the experience felt by dozens of farmers in my constituency.
“I urge the Government to row back on their farming assault before it is too late.”
