President of the National Farmers’ Union Tom Bradshaw has launched a fresh attack on the Labour Government, claiming their inheritance tax raid on farmers is “unfair” and “abhorrent”.
Today, Bradshaw and NFU Cymru President Aled Jones handed in their petition on behalf of the union to 10 Downing Street, calling for a change in the proposed legislation.
Over 270,000 people have signed the petition in support of farmers, with Bradshaw warning on the petition’s official page that the tax will “deal a hammer blow to farming families” across Britain.
Speaking to GB News, Bradshaw told reporter Katherine Forster that the Government “are the only ones” who believe the raid is a “fair deal”.
Bradshaw launched a fresh attack on Labour, claiming the inheritance tax changes are ‘completely inhumane’
GB News / PA
Bradshaw told the People’s Channel: “Over 270,000 people have supported our petition. We’d like to thank every one of them for their support.
“It means so much to the farming industry, but food production is something that everyone in this country relies on.”
Detailing the impact on the farming industry, Bradshaw declared that confidence in the agricultural industry has been “completely broken”.
He explained: “Nobody wants to invest for the future and without that investment, there is no food security.
Bradshaw and NFU Cymru president Aled Jones handed in their petition to 10 Downing Street today
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“We’ve seen the supermarkets all come out saying they’ve got serious concerns for the resilience of our food supply systems.”
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Expressing particular concern for elderly farmers, Bradshaw warned Labour that giving them “no time to plan” in how they will pass their farms on before the changes come into place is “completely inhumane”.
Bradshaw fumed: “These people that are in our community, that have given a lifetime to producing this country’s food, have no ability to plan. We’ve got 94-year-olds that still own the farm because until October 30, the very best tax advice was to keep the farm until death.
“They have no ability to plan their way through this. The abhorrent changes proposed are completely inhumane.”
He stated: “Putting those people in that position is completely unfair, and we have to get the Government to urgently look at changing the proposals so that we can take them out of the eye of this storm.”
Bradshaw told GB News that confidence in the agricultural industry is ‘completely broken’
GB News
Revealing the union’s next steps in their campaign against Labour’s changes, Bradshaw told GB News that more than “100 events” are planned for tomorrow, for farmers to “thank the public for their support” and get their message across to Government.
Delivering his verdict on the tax raid, NFU Cymru president Aled Jones claimed that there is a “sense of betrayal” felt by farmers, following the Labour Goverment’s announcement in October’s Budget.
Jones said: “We were told a while ago that family farms were integral to this country, and farming and delivering food security was an essential part of national security. And farmers really took those messages and they were proud to deliver for this country.
“But there’s a sense of betrayal. It’s this utter sense of betrayal at the moment to think that those historic contributions that farmers made to this country is now being taken away from them. The breakup of family farms will be devastating for this country.”