British farmers are planning wide-scale disruptions after Rachel Reeves new tax rules hit countryside hard. The chancellors decision to put 20% inheritance tax on farm assets (worth more than £1M) made lots of people angry – especially since farms used to have special tax breaks
In response many farmers plan to block UK ports and stop food deliveries to stores; some even think about keeping their produce and animals back. A farmer who knows about these plans said:
They will block every port in the UK if they have to
Clive Bailye who runs UKʼs biggest farm forum thinks farmers might take other steps too: not using sewage-sludge on fields or stopping food from leaving farms. Every year farms use about 3.6M tonnes of sewage-waste as fertilizer which helps water-companies a lot
The head of National Farmers Union Tom Bradshaw says his people feel let-down by Sir Keir Starmer; many hoped Labour would work with rural areas but now thats changed. About 1/4 of Labours MPʼs come from country areas – making this even more hard-hitting
The govt says they had to make hard choices because of money problems; only 500 claims each year will be hit and farm-couples can still pass on up to £3M without paying tax. But farmers dont seem happy with this answer and keep making protest-plans