Keir Starmer, farmers are dying and in anguish – you must hear their heartbreaking stories | Politics | News
We are in a Food and Agriculture Emergency. As food prices continue to rise, driven in part by last year’s disastrous budget, farmers have been forced to campaign for their own survival. From areas like mine in Lincolnshire to the South West and beyond, the mood is the same: pain, misery and a desperate belief that this Government is targeting rural and coastal communities.
As Express readers know all too well, the Family Farm and Family Business Taxes epitomize this despair and suffering. For most farmers, land is not a luxury asset; their working capital, their pension, their home and their children’s future. In addition to the damage to food security and the rural economy, these taxes also cause terrible human harm. Farmers make tragic decisions to prevent their family farms from falling apart and their loved ones facing tax bills they could never hope to pay.
The stories are heartbreaking: A father with young children attempts suicide because of this tax worry; the 92-year-old grandmother who told her family they didn’t need to worry because she wouldn’t be here when the tax went into effect; The young boy who found his father’s body.
This is an emergency that the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Defra Secretary of State have deliberately ignored. Neither the farmers nor the Conservatives will back down.
Tomorrow morning farmers will take to the streets of Whitehall to make their voices heard on Budget Day. Their message will be clear: Listen to us or risk losing Britain’s food security. No responsible Government can continue to ignore this warning.
Family farms and businesses will be watching the budget with bated breath on Wednesday to see whether the Prime Minister and Chancellor have finally listened to their calls. If Labor changes direction, it will no doubt be due to the relentless campaigning of the farming community, family businesses and the Conservative Party over the past year.
The Conservatives have made a solemn promise to farmers and family businesses: We will scrap these taxes when we return to government. This is because the countryside has long been the cornerstone of Conservative Britain; A region that is proud, hard-working and rooted in family and community. This is the right thing to do and one of the ways the Conservatives can build a stronger countryside and a stronger country under new leadership.
Mental health support for farmers is provided at: https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/find-wellbeing-support-in-your-area/
Victoria Arkins is Shadow Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
