A farmer has accused Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Government of “not listening” to the industry following their inheritance tax raid.
Speaking to GB News, Andrew Ward hit out at the Prime Minister for handing “£560million” to foreign farmers, allowing Britain’s workers to “suffer”.
Sharing the latest update on the negotiation between farmers and Government, Mr Ward said: “Unfortunately, no, we’re not making any headway with the Government in the fact that they’re not changing any policies.
“But I think we have made headway and highlighted to the Government that we will not lay down and be pushed around.”
Highlighting the support of Britons, he added: “But also the public have really understood now what’s going on with food production and farming, so I think that has been the big win for what we’ve been doing with these protests.”
Stressing that the industry is already “not profitable” ahead of the tax raid, Mr Ward explained: “The problem we’ve got is it’s not profitable, and this is what a lot of people don’t understand.
“The people that say pay your tax, they don’t understand that we are making virtually no profit from producing food which keeps people alive.”
He told GB News: “Just to give you an example, in 2012 I was selling feed wheat for £200 a tonne. Today I’m selling it for £160, so £40 a tonne less. But all our import costs have gone up.
Farmer Andrew Ward has hit out at the Labour Government for sending millions abroad to help foreign farmers
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GB NEWS
“We cannot carry on absorbing all these costs and the Government keep hitting us with all these extra things they’re doing.
“Next year we’ve got a fertiliser tax coming in at about £50 or £60 a tonne they’re gonna charge us.”
Asked by host Camilla Tominey how the latest Budget has impacted the farming community, Mr Ward revealed: “A lot of farmers themselves are on minimum wage, we’re not earning big money.
“And this is the problem we’ve got, the Government keeps saying that they’re looking after the working person. They’re not.
“They’re making it more difficult for the working person, and the last Budget made things more difficult than the first Budget did.”
He added: “This is the problem we’ve got, he [Keir Starmer] says he’s protecting working people, yet surely farmers are working people?
“Because we work more hours than than most people do, and feed the nation and keep people alive.
Farmers are continuing to protest against the policy
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PA“And the age-old saying, you need a farmer three times a day, you do. And you can’t say that for many other industries. Especially at Christmas.”
Asked what his message to Chancellor Rachel Reeves would be, Mr Ward accused the Labour Government of attempting to “ruin” the farming industry.
He told GB News: “If they were listening to farmers, they wouldn’t be doing their utmost to ruin the industry and make the industry unprofitable, and this is the issue that we’ve got at the moment, they’re not listening at all.
“I was at a meeting the other day, and the farmers aren’t part of the discussion in the first two or three rounds.
“Natural England is an organisation that looks after the environment and we have to answer to, and yet when they’re looking at new policies, they don’t involve farmers at the first two or three hurdles.”
Mr Ward told GB News that the Government is ‘ruining’ the farming industry
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GB NEWS
Asked if he would want a complete U-turn on the policy, Mr Ward concluded that “nobody” should have to pay inheritance tax.
He said: “Well, for a start, it should not be payable by anybody, not just farmers. No business should pay inheritance tax, we’re not just sort of working on the side of farmers.
“Scrapping it would be the best thing obviously, but if they can’t scrap it and they want to get some income coming in, then raise the threshold so it does protect the true family farm.”
The farmer continued: “I think it’s worth pointing out that the public money, £560million, went abroad to help foreign farmers, and domestic farmers have suffered.”