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Sir Keir Starmer was accused of “running out the back door like a flipping rat” to avoid scores of angry farmers outside protesting over controversial changes to death duties dubbed “the family farm tax”.
The prime minister had been giving a speech at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno where he stood by the measures in Rachel Reeves’s much criticised Budget with a record £40bn in tax rises. But he didn’t directly acknowledge the growing backlash to inheritance tax changes which mean two-thirds of farmers would be liable to pay 20 per cent inheritance tax on family farms – a figure disputed by the Treasury. Hundreds of farmers had gathered on the promenade in Llandudno and were dismayed the PM did not appear to leave via the front of the conference centre.
Farmer and well-known YouTuber Gareth Wyn Jones said that he “ran out of the backdoor like a flipping rat”.
He branded the prime minister “disrespectful”, adding: “With so many people that have come here to air their frustrations and problems, he had an opportunity to come out and address the crowd. He should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people. He was voted in by the people and he should listen to the people.
“He didn’t even have the guts to come and just address them. He shot out of the back door with his security and gone back to his London hideout.”
A Labour source denied that he was trying to avoid the protesters, saying that the exit was chosen because that was where Sir Keir’s official car was parked.
The prime minister is not believed to have spoken to any of the protesters outside the event after proclaiming to Welsh Labour members that he was proud of his government’s achievements so far and would not back down over measures in Ms Reeves’s controversial Budget.
Sir Keir’s speech at the Welsh Labour conference was given against a backdrop of hundreds of protesting farmers enraged by the changes in inheritance tax which mean farms over £1m in value will be liable for the first time at 20 per cent, forcing families to break up or sell off farms.
The protest was led by a line of tractors driving up the seaside resort’s promenade with supporters holding posters and shouting, “Enough is enough” with warnings that Labour’s policies will destroy the farming sector. Lines of police separated angry farmers from the conference venue.
The issue has been made worse by apparent disagreement in Whitehall over the number of farms affected. The chancellor has claimed it was only 28 per cent based on how many applied each year for agricultural property relief, but Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs figures suggest it could be as high as 66 per cent.
Added to that, a senior Labour grandee and former adviser, John McTernan, claimed that Britain does not need family farms and suggested Sir Keir should treat them like Margaret Thatcher dealt with the miners in the 1980s.
In a statement ahead of today’s protest, farmers have threatened to go on strike and cut off Britain’s domestic food supply.
A much bigger protest with thousands of farmers is set to take place in Whitehall on Tuesday. The event has attracted so much support that the police and organisers were forced to change its location because Trafalgar Square is not big enough to contain everyone involved.
Ahead of today’s protests, north Wales farmers warned that the inheritance tax changes are part of a package of measures which threaten the future of farms in Britain.
In a direct message to Sir Keir, they said: “Today you can see the depth of feeling and concerns that you are creating as the PM of this country towards the rural areas and farming community.
“The outcome of your Budget highlights the government’s incapacity to look at the position as a whole rather than a tick box exercise to fulfil your selfless ambition.
“The inheritance tax debacle highlights this case, this new tax represents a considerable challenge not only for farmers but also the broader agricultural sector.”
They announced that from Sunday, many farmers will in effect be going on strike.
“This is a last resort, many cannot afford this but there is growing anger in the countryside. As we see it the one thing that Labour has achieved is to bring farmers, [the] business community and rural areas together. We ask that you revisit the whole approach to farming and rural communities as a matter of urgency.”
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News that farmers will deliver Sir Keir a letter which starts: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
”They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically,” he said. “We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He claimed inheritance tax change would result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimate that only 500 farming estates in the UK would be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their seventies and eighties, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”