'We will fight!' Farmers' chief issues Starmer 'betrayal' warning ahead of Commons showdown
WATCH NOW: Kevin Hollinrake on the farmers' dispute with Sir Keir Starmer
GB NEWS
Farmers across Britain will continue to "fight" Sir Keir Starmer's inheritance tax raid until the bitter end, NFU chief Tom Bradshaw has warned the Prime Minister.
In a stark warning ahead of today's Commons showdown, the National Farmers' Union president declared that farmers will not back down from opposing the controversial policy.
"In my lifetime I have never seen such widespread anger, betrayal and despair in the farming community," Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw's resolute stance reflects mounting tensions between the farming community and Westminster over what many see as an existential threat to family farming.
The controversial changes, dubbed the "tractor tax", were announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves during her maiden Budget at the end of October.
Under the new policy, families will face inheritance tax charges on farm values exceeding £1million from April 6, 2024.
The measure ends the long-standing inheritance exemption for agricultural land and business assets.
While Labour Ministers maintain that most farms will remain unaffected by the changes, farmers have strongly disputed these claims.
'We will fight!' Farmers chief issues Starmer 'betrayal' warning ahead of Commons showdown
PA
The policy has sparked fierce opposition, with industry experts warning it could spell the end of many family-owned farming operations across Britain.
The scale of opposition became clear when around ten thousand farmers descended on Westminster on November 19 to protest the policy.
Writing in The Daily Mail, Bradshaw warned No10 that farmers would quickly give up their fight.
"Ministers probably expected the grumble to last a few days and then the news agenda would take over and farmers would head back to the countryside, annoyed but defeated. That hasn't happened," he wrote.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw hit out at Labour's 'massive mistake' in scrapping the tax reliefPOOL"Rest assured, farmers will not sit quietly by in the countryside and let this go - we will fight, for as long as it takes, because this is about not just our farms, but our families and our future."
Despite meeting with the Prime Minister last week, recent developments show no signs of the Government backing down.
The NFU president insists the Government has only itself to blame for the fierce backlash.
He has called for the tax raid to be halted for a proper consultation period at minimum.
A photo of Keir Starmer on the phone to Donald TrumpKEIR STARMERThe warning comes as the Conservative Party looks set to intensify pressure on the Government, with an Opposition Day debate scheduled in the House of Commons for later today.
The Tory motion explicitly calls for the abandonment of the tax raid, claiming it threatens to end family farming "as it has been known for many generations in the UK".
Bradshaw also claimed that farmers were taking the "lid off the pressure cooker" given a number of rural Labour MPs have since spoken out against Starmer's plan.
The motion comes just days after Mid & South Pembrokeshire MP Henry Tufnell came under fire over his family's decision to transfer land to his brother.
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