The Government is “for farmers”, the Prime Minister has said, as he reiterated his position that the majority of farms will not be affected by agricultural inheritance tax changes.
He was speaking after 13,000 farmers and supporters rallied in central London over Budget measures which included imposing inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million, and speeding up the phase-out of EU-era subsidies in favour of nature-friendly farming payments.
It was put to Sir Keir Starmer on BBC Radio Bristol, as part of a round of interviews on local radio, that he is not for farmers or small business owners, or “for keeping millions of pensioners warm”, and he was asked who is he for.
He said: “We’re for working people who need to be better off, who’ve really struggled over recent years.
“We’re for everybody who wants to and needs to rely on the NHS, which is on its knees, and we’ve got to pick it up and we will and get those waiting lists down.
“We’re for the people who absolutely need somewhere safe and secure to live that they can afford.
“All of that has to be paid for.
“We are also for the farmers and the pensioners.”
The Prime Minister also reiterated his position that the vast majority of farms will be “completely unaffected” by changes to agricultural inheritance tax.
It was put to Sir Keir on BBC Radio Lincolnshire that family farms will be put out of business by the Budget, and he said “I do understand their concerns”.
He said: “Firstly, in the Budget, we allocated £5 billion over the next two years to farming, that’s the single biggest amount of money into sustainable food production, that’s hugely important for farmers, plus money for dealing with flooding, which is always a problem, and the outbreak of disease.
“For the inheritance tax, obviously, what farmers want to do, understandably, is make sure that the family farm is preserved.
“In a typical case, which is, you know, parents passing, initially to each other, to the other spouse, when one dies, and then on to a child, so that’s a typical case, the threshold before inheritance tax is paid is £3 million.”
He added: “But £3 million means that the vast majority of farms are completely unaffected. The vast majority completely unaffected.
“Because that £3 million threshold is a very high threshold. There aren’t many farms year on year, that are sold in excess of that amount, and therefore that threshold is high. Vast majority of farmers won’t be affected.”
Asked on BBC Radio Bristol about the £3 million threshold figure, and put to him that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves had said the threshold was £1 million, he said: “Well, there is an allowance for the farm land itself, which is £1 million.
“There’s then an allowance spouse-to-spouse on death, and then there’s an allowance final, you know, surviving parent to child.
“When you add all those up, all three of those, are very likely to be the case for a family farm.”
He added: “When you add those three together. So that’s your classic, typical family farm, it’s £3 million threshold.”
It was put to him on BBC Radio Lincolnshire that putting pylons on farmland is not going to be good for the environment and it is taking farmland out of use for growing food.
Sir Keir said: “Yes, what we’re trying to do here is to get to renewable energy as quickly as we can because it’s cheaper, it’s independent, which means that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can’t put his boot on our throats, and prices go through the roof, which massively affects individuals, businesses and, of course, farms where they’re using energy quite intensely, in some places.
“So we need to get to that renewable energy. That will mean that we have to take difficult decisions on things like pylons.”
