NFU on meeting with Treasury: ‘Heads in sand, fingers in ears, zero empathy’

The farming union said today that the devastating impacts on farming families and the nation’s food security from the family farm tax sit squarely on the government’s shoulders, after ministers bluntly refused any suggestion of a compromise offered by farming unions and organisations.

The stark warning comes after exchequer secretary James Murray and food security minister Daniel Zeichner called in representatives from across the farming sector, including the TFA (Tenant Farmers Association), CLA (Country Land and Business Association) and CAAV (Central Association of Agricultural Valuers), and the wider UK farming unions, only to tell them the government had no interest in compromise.

Speaking after the meeting, NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “Disappointed doesn’t cover how I feel after this meeting. Today, we have repeated our concerns about the impact on farming families; they don’t care.

“On the impact on families who can’t afford vast tax bills coming their way on the death of a loved one; they don’t care. On the elderly – the most vulnerable people in our farming community – who feel they are now a burden on their family; they don’t care.

“This morally bankrupt position sits with this government, and, without change, ministers will reap the consequences.”

READ MORE: Farming bosses meet with Treasury: ‘No enthusiasm or appetite for compromise’

‘Heads in the sand, fingers in ears, zero empathy’

Mr Bradshaw added: “For the 70 million people living on these islands, food security matters. It matters more given the ever-increasing geopolitical uncertainty. While this is shocking for me to say, the only conclusion I can come to is this government doesn’t care about British food production. Is this the same government, which in its manifesto said food security is national security?

“We went into this meeting fully understanding the fiscal hole this government must plug, and we went into this meeting to offer a solution, a solution, which has been suggested by other tax experts where the inheritance tax policy is based on a clawback mechanism.

“Put simply, farmers don’t get money when they inherit, they get the farm, the business asset, and often the debt. Any money they do get, they get when they sell. So, our suggestion is based on that premise.

“Our suggestion, which is almost revenue neutral meaning the Chancellor gets her planned income, is that if an inherited farm is sold then inheritance tax gets paid.”

Mr Bradshaw explained that crucially, this solution would allow family farms that want to continue to produce the nation’s food to do so, while giving the Treasury what it wants.

“We also need to be clear, the current talk that the £500 million this generates, which will be raised on the backs of hard-working and hard-pressed farmers, will rescue the NHS is nonsense. This amount will fund the NHS for a day. It’s disingenuous for ministers to repeat this untruth.

“Despite the Chancellor calling for alternatives, and today the UK food sector went collectively to share those, I am hugely disappointed there was no response from Treasury today, no acknowledgement that this could be done better.

“This is the same Treasury department, which admits it has not yet carried out impact assessments on its current policy. Let’s remember, this policy has now been challenged by farming unions and agriculture representatives from across the UK, it has been challenged by the independent Office of Budget Responsibility, by the Efra Select Committee, by tax advisors to the government, and recently the National Preparedness Committee has reminded us that UK food security is in a precarious state.

“And every single major food retailer in the UK has also called for change. Why? Because they can see what this will do to the security of the supply of their products.

“This is a mess, but there is still time for Treasury to review. I urge them to look at the proposal put to them by all the major farming organisations today. It will raise the money needed. It is a way forward which is fair, removes the huge risk to British agriculture, including significant emotional and financial pressures, and delivers for UK food security, something the government continues to insist is a priority.

“I want to thank NFU members for their continued support, and I thank the public who continue to stand by British farming, with 275,000 people signing our petition. Thank you to those back-benchers who have come out to support their rural constituencies and thank you to those political parties, which have pledged to dump this awful policy if they’re elected.

“From what we are told, the Chancellor has refused even to meet with her own worried MPs on this issue. Heads in the sand, fingers in ears, zero empathy. What a way for a government to behave.”

‘The countryside is watching’

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, external affairs director at the Countryside Alliance, has commented on the news by saying: “If the government won’t engage with farmers meaningfully, show compassion to farming families or take food security seriously, they should expect further demonstrations, more visits to the countryside scuppered and a continuous drum beat of campaigning in their constituencies.

“The public side with farmers in opposition to the disastrous family farm tax, not the government.

“There is no doubt Labour MPs in rural constituencies are equally appalled at the Treasury’s attempt at a bit of theatre today. I hope they do the right thing, get organised and join colleagues who have already spoken out about this damaging tax hike, before it’s too late. Their constituents are depending on them. The countryside is watching.”

‘Grave concerns‘

Farmers’ Union of Wales president, Ian Rickman, said that he is “deeply disappointed” by the Treasury’s dismissive response to the compelling case against the detrimental impact of the inheritance tax changes for Welsh family farms.

“Together with other UK farming unions, we clearly outlined the potential economic, emotional and cultural devastation these changes could inflict on farms and rural communities across Wales, and our domestic food production. Crucially, we offered our willingness to collaborate with the government and industry stakeholders to address the flaws in this ill-thought-out policy.

“Regrettably, it seems these arguments have fallen on deaf ears. Serious questions remain about the Treasury’s own figures and given steep trajectories in land prices and the current and historically low farm profits for the farm types which predominate in Wales, such inheritance tax bills would be unaffordable for a significant proportion of family farms.

“We continue to hold grave concerns about these changes, and will liaise further with our membership regarding the best way forward,” he concluded.

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