Farming community responds to yesterday’s protest during PM’s visit in Buckinghamshire

PM Keir Starmer has also reacted to the farmers’ protest that took place yesterday in Milton Keynes, which forced him to leave a visit to a housing development early.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw commented on the event: “However high feelings are running in the farming community, today’s actions by a group which deliberately disrupted a major speech by the Prime Minister were misjudged and, clearly, have been massively counter-productive.

“This was not an NFU event. Since last October, the NFU has been leading a campaign to mitigate the damaging and inhumane impacts of the proposed changes to inheritance tax on farms, building independent evidence, huge public support and political backing across Parliament.

“Whilst we understand and share the Prime Minister’s frustrations today, he is not right to say that Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) are “a tax break for farmers”.

“He knows they are policies designed to ensure family farms can stay in business and enable them to deliver for the nation. It’s also not reasonable to suggest that raising between nothing and £500 million – the varying estimates of what the new tax will bring in – will determine the future of the NHS or UK schools.

“The NFU has spent months trying to meet the chancellor, more recently to share and discuss what we believe is a revenue-neutral change to the family farm tax which helps the government in its aim of raising money, but also protects family farms and removes the elderly from the eye of this storm.

“We have meetings with the Exchequer Secretary next week where we hope that, despite today’s events, he will welcome and consider these proposals properly.

“Events like today’s are not the way to achieve policy change. The NFU represents 44,000 farming businesses in England and Wales, and we will speak with their voices next week – calmly and constructively.”

READ MORE: ‘Just talk to us’ – PM Starmer avoids farmers by cutting short his visit to Milton Keynes

"…Or do we want to give tax breaks for farmers? We can't have both."

Sir Keir Starmer reacts to the farmer's protest in Buckinghamshire that forced him to leave a visit to a housing development early.https://t.co/DrG6ZAFWfc

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