Backlash as govt commits £70m to overseas food security
25th November 2024
The government has been criticised for investing in overseas food security, whilst cutting inheritance tax reliefs for UK farmers.
The UK is set to invest £70 million in overseas food security, despite defending its decision to slash inheritance tax reliefs for British farmers.
Ministers have pledged millions of pounds, to be paid over the next 18 months, to support households grappling poverty and hunger across the Global South.
It forms part of the UK’s founding membership of the new Brazil-led Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.
The investment will help food-insecure households to withstand shocks, drive green growth in the agriculture sector, and improve social protection for those in need, the government says.
Minister for development Anneliese Dodds said:
“With the climate emergency increasingly preventing the world’s most vulnerable families from having enough to eat, it’s time for a new approach.
“The UK’s partnership with Brazil, our membership of the Alliance and this package of investment demonstrate our unwavering commitment to tackling global hunger.
“Only in genuine partnership with the Global South can we move closer to a stable world free of hunger and poverty.”
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Tax raid on British farmers
According to the Telegraph, new analysis has shown more the £536m is being spent across 10 programmes in Africa, Asia and South America. Many of the schemes were undertaken by the previous government and run for a number of years.
The latest announcement comes shortly after the government revealed it would cap agricultural property relief at £1m.
Farms with a net worth over this sum will qualify for only 50% relief on inheritance tax, effectively a 20% tax.
Despite protests and ongoing negotiations with farming groups, the government has doubled down on the move, insisting it needs to raise funds to improve social care and fill a £22bn ‘black hole’ in public finances.
“Astonishing”
Responding to news of the £70m funding, shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins is quoted by the Telegraph as saying:
“Labour have taken a political decision to impose a family farm tax that will devastate farming in this country.
“For them to give £70 million to support food security overseas – a significant percentage of what the family farm tax will supposedly raise – at the expense of our own food security and farming industry is astonishing.
“They need to get real on this policy quickly. Some farmers have an annual income of around £20,000. They cannot afford Labour’s vindictive tax.
“As a country, we need our farmers and food security. This city-swelling government needs to listen to rural folk fast.”
A government spokesperson said:
“We are committed to supporting farmers here in the UK – which is why we are investing £5 billion into farming at home over the next two years – the largest amount ever for sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in this country’s history.”
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