Labour faces a wipeout of rural MPs, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned, as tens of thousands of farmers prepare to march on London in protest over the government’s Budget changes to inheritance tax.
The party’s landslide election victory saw Labour MPs elected across 114 rural constituencies.
But Labour peer Baroness Ann Mallalieu has told The Independent that chancellor Rachel Reeves’s measure to abolish inheritance tax exemptions for some farms has caused uproar, with her party facing angry claims of betrayal among farmers and rural campaigners.
Farmers arriving to join the first major protest against the new Labour government say the 20 per cent levy on farming assets worth more than £1m will rip the heart from countryside communities.
And they strongly dispute Treasury figures that suggest just 28 per cent of farms will be impacted.
Some of the farming community’s anger has been vented at newly elected Labour MPs – with none so far speaking out in support of farmers’ calls to reverse the inheritance tax measure.
Latest public opinion polls demonstrate support for farmers.
A survey by More in Common showed 57 per cent of people supported making farmers exempt from inheritance tax, including 45 per cent of Labour voters, while 44 per cent said the Budget had a negative impact on farmers.
Baroness Mallalieu, who is also president of the Countryside Alliance, told The Independent: “Under Tony Blair there were 100 rural Labour MPs. Tony Blair mounted, and very much regrets it now as he says, what was seen as an attack on the countryside and it dropped to 17.
“It took 14 years of Conservative governance before it was restored to 100 – now [it is] such a pity to throw that away, which it seems to me they are bent on doing.”
Baroness Mallalieu said she had sympathy with the newly elected MPs, some of whom she said were inexperienced and owe it to the party to remain loyal despite outbursts from constituents.
“I feel very, very sorry for them,” she said. “They work very hard and they’ve had enormous goodwill in the constituencies... I hope people won’t take their anger out on those representatives but they do need to know what it’s going to do to people, many of whom supported them.
“I’ve had so many people from the local village shop, to the railway station saying, ‘I wish I hadn’t voted Labour – I’ve made a mistake’.”
Asked if the measure, unchanged, could lead to rural MPs losing their seats, Baroness Mallalieu said: “They [voters] won’t forget. I remember John Major at Tony Blair’s time said that he would sour a whole generation.
“Goodwill, once you’ve lost it, is very hard to recover. I’m afraid that’s what happened [under Blair]. I’m just afraid that if something doesn’t happen fairly quickly, people will remain angry, and also deeply worried and frightened.”
Baroness Mallalieu said the Treasury had not properly consulted on the measure or looked at the figures correctly. Last week, unlike the Treasury’s estimate, Defra figures were interpreted by farmers’ groups to show up to 66 per cent of farms could be impacted.
On Sunday night, as he made his way to the G20 summit in Brazil, Sir Keir, who avoided facing protesters at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno on Saturday, doubled down on his claim that the “vast majority of farms will be unaffected”.
Around 12,500 people are registered to attend tomorrow’s protest, starting in Richmond Terrace from 11am – but it is believed more than double that figure could arrive, with members of the public joining the action.
Led by a group of children on toy tractors to signify the inheritance tax’s implications for the next generation, the protest will feature a list of speakers before a march to Parliament Square.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw will tell protesters: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the industry this angry, this disillusioned and this upset. And given what we’ve had to be angry about in recent years that’s saying something.
“To launch a policy this destructive without speaking to anyone involved in farming beggars’ belief.”
Earlier in the day, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) will hold a mass lobby event from 9am with more than 1,000 members entering Church House to put the issue directly to MPs.
The wider protest was organised by a group of farmers, including Herefordshire cereal farmer Martin Williams, who accused Labour MPs in rural constituencies of letting down voters.
“We have had a lot of placating words around the measures that they say will make a difference to us [from Labour MPs], but none of them are breaking the party line,” he said.
“It seems that they have got such slim majorities in the rural constituences, I feel that they know they are probably not going to get in next time after this debacle already.”
Among those joining the protest on Tuesday will be Cornish dairy farmer Bridget Whell, who will be affected along with her sisters in inheriting their parents’ 500-acre arable farm.
“Family farms will need to sell off land to pay for the tax, or some won’t continue the business,” she said.
“They [the Labour government] don’t understand how a farm is the basis of a local economy. For every dairy farm, you can have around 25 businesses running off it – and this measure will hurt us all. It’s so frustrating. We just want to be heard, to be listened to and hopefully some changes can be made.”
The Independent contacted 48 Labour MPs representing communities classed as purely rural by the Countryside Alliance, but none returned with a statement in support of the farmers’ demand to reverse the measure.
Monmouthshire MP Catherine Fookes said the inheritance tax decision was necessary to address a £22bn black hole left by the Tory government but said she was aware of farmers’ concerns and will be meeting a dozen constituents on the day of the protest.
“I will support them in any way I can through the transition,” she said.
Forest of Dean MP Matt Bishop, who won his seat with a majority of fewer than 300 votes, said: “We have had to make difficult decisions to navigate the significant financial pressures inherited from the previous government, but I want to reassure my constituents that my focus on farming and rural issues remains unwavering.”
Suffolk Coastal MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, who won her seat with a majority of just over 1,000 votes, said: “I will continue to be engaging with them [local farmers] over the weeks and months ahead – supporting them and advocating for farming and rural communities.”
John Whitby, MP for Derbyshire Dales, who won his seat with a majority of 350 votes, said he was listening to farmers’ concerns. “I have visited farms in my constituency, met with the president of the NFU, and will be welcoming even more farmers to parliament tomorrow,” he added.
Tory MP for Bridgwater, Ashley Fox, who is joining the protest, said: “I would hope that all members of parliament would listen to their constituents, and the message I have had from farmers is that this is a very damaging tax rise, so I would ask my Labour colleagues to reconsider their position.
“I think this Labour family farm tax will cause real hardship and will damage Britain’s food security.”
Ahead of the protest Rachel Reeves and environment secretary Steve Reed attempted to address the anger of farmers.
In a statement they said: “Farmers are the backbone of Britain, and we recognise the strength of feeling expressed by farming and rural communities in recent weeks. We are steadfast in our commitment to Britain’s farming industry because food security is national security.
“It’s why we are investing £5 billion into farming over the next two years – the largest amount ever directed towards sustainable food production, rural economic growth and nature’s recovery in our country’s history. “But with public services crumbling and a £22 billion fiscal hole that this Government inherited, we have taken difficult decisions.”
But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch gave her backing to the protesters repeating her pledge to reverse the tax.
She said: “The Labour government clearly doesn’t understand, or care about rural communities, and now families are having to sell their farms, with knowledge that has been handed down through generations lost forever.
“Under my leadership the Conservative Party will staunchly oppose the family farm tax, which threatens our vital rural economy and our food security, with increased costs and a greater reliance on imports.”
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, from the Countryside Alliance, said: “Labour MPs who find themselves now representing rural seats must be seen to empathise with the awful situation farmers and their families now find themselves. Sadly, many do not feel they are being listened to.”
A government spokesperson said: “The government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast. It’s why we have committed £5bn to the farming budget over two years – more money than ever for sustainable food production.
“We understand concerns about changes to agricultural property relief but the majority of those claiming relief will not be affected by these changes. Around 500 claims each year will be impacted and farm-owning couples can pass on up to £3m without paying any inheritance tax.
“This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while also fixing the public services that we all rely on.”
