Prescot farmer calling for solution ahead of Westminster protest
Hundreds of tractors will descend on London again
A Prescot farmer is calling on the government to sit down with them to find a solution... ahead of another massive protest in Westminster today.
Around 500 tractors from across the country will be there, with farmers arguing that each one symbolises the death of a family farm each year because of the government's changes to inheritance tax.
The reforms mean farms worth over £1million will be subjected to 20% inheritance tax from April 2026.
It follows a massive demonstration in London last month, in which thousands of farmers turned out to make their feelings and thoughts known.
Olly Harrison said:
"We had 45,000 farmers (at the last protest) that were obviously pretty angry at what was going on and that anger still hasn't subsided because the government still hasn't communicated anything with us.
"They said they would bring out a budget that was going to protect family farms and keep food production in the UK when effectively, they've completely missed the mark and not got it right at all.
"Listen to farmers"
"Every time you lose a generation out of a family farm, the cost of the tax bill will be greater than what the farms are able to generate, so the farms will have to be sold off and obviously farmers can't afford to buy it because there's no profits, so it'll be just bought by huge corporations who'll use it for carbon offsetting probably, aeroplane companies and the likes.
"Listen to farmers. Let's sit down, lets come up with a solution that works for everyone."
The government says today (11 December) it has injected nearly £350million into farming in the first week of December, to the benefit of more than 31,000 farmers.
It has also announced that a 'new and improved' Countryside Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme will open in 2025 to provide quarterly payments designed to improve farmers' cashflow and a rolling application window so customers can apply throughout the year.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, said:
"Our commitment to farmers is steadfast.
"That is why this Government is working hard to get money into farmers bank accounts as well as announcing today how farmers can benefit from the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme, with more flexible actions, improved payments to help cashflow and a rolling application window.
"It’s part of our £5 billion farming budget over two years - the largest ever directed at sustainable food production in our country’s history.
"As we set out our Plan for Change, we are focused on supporting our farmers, supporting rural economics growth and boosting Britain’s food security."
Rural Payments Agency Chief Executive, Paul Caldwell, said:
"Our farmers are the heartbeat of the nation’s rural economy, and RPA remains focused on supporting them by getting payments into bank accounts as quickly as possible.
"I am very pleased that this December we have been able to inject more funding than ever from environmental schemes into the rural economy.
"This comes at the same time as providing more certainty over the details in Higher Tier offer to enable farmers to see for themselves how it can benefit them."