Conservatives have left farmers in the sheep dip

Farmers in High Peak have been struggling for the past 14 years.

The Conservatives promised them the earth but left them in the sheep dip. After all the Brexit promises, they were sold out in trade deals and subsidies were cut. Then Liz Truss’ mini-budget crashed the economy, causing interest rates to rocket.

Over 12,000 farmers were lost under the Conservatives, many of them in High Peak. For the Conservatives to pretend they’re champions of farming is frankly laughable.

Before the Budget, farmers in High Peak wanted to talk to me about two things: the effect of changes to Agricultural Property Relief on family farms, and the need to protect the farming budget.

The Chancellor in her budget delivered £5 billion for the farming budget. The largest ever investment in sustainable food production and nature recovery in Britain’s history.

But it’s time there was a bit of honesty in politics. The money for the farming budget has to come from somewhere. We are asking those with the broadest shoulders to pay more.

Only 4% of the very wealthiest families pay any inheritance tax and these changes will not alter that. For example, a farming couple will be able to pass on £3 million tax free to their children. By contrast a couple passing on a £3 million mansion would pay nearly a £1 million in tax. It is no wonder billionaires are buying up half the countryside to avoid paying tax.

With a bit of estate planning and possibly some insurance, these changes will not threaten future generations of farmers in High Peak and beyond.

What this debate has highlighted is that farmers are working themselves into the ground for very little profit.

The question is how we support our farmers to be profitable again. Energy bills are one of the biggest costs farming businesses face. This Government will help bring down those costs through home generated clean energy and supporting farmers to plug renewables into the national grid, like the project by a dairy farm in New Mills that I’m backing.

We must also protect our farmers from being undercut by foreign imports. And Labour will create ensure that 50% of the food bought for our hospitals, prisons and army bases is produced by local farmers.

Most importantly we have to provide farmers with economic stability. The new Conservative Leader has already proposed £6.7 billion of unfunded tax cuts. They need to tell people either, what services they are planning to cut or will they go on another Liz Truss style borrowing spree and put us right back in the position we were in with soaring interest rates and farms going out of business.