News

Militant farmers to stage a ‘national strike’ against Rachel Reeves’ inheritance tax raids – with meat and crops set to be withheld from supermarkets

Militant farmers will hold back meat and crops from supermarkets next week as part of a ‘national strike’ against Labour’s inheritance tax raids.

The direct action will be taken by ‘several thousand’ UK farmers over a week starting from Sunday.

It coincides with over 10,000 farmers heading to London for a march against the punishing tax next Tuesday, November 19.

Almost 2,000 farmers are also expected to meet up with MPs in a ‘mass lobbying event’ by the National Farmers’ Union on the same day.

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves introduced IHT on all previously exempt farms worth over £1m, at a rate of 20 per cent, in her autumn Budget.

Farmers fear the change will prevent them passing their assets down through the generations as they will be forced to sell off parts of their businesses to pay the punishing death duties.

Protest group Enough Is Enough last night vowed to put a shot across the Government’s bows as industry anger mounts.

In a statement, the Enough is Enough group said: ‘British farmers have simply had enough and those who are able will be going on strike for the first time in history.

‘We are being suffocated by a government that seems determined to destroy our livelihoods, our future and our ability to feed the nation.

‘We simply cannot allow the destruction of our industry to continue and responsibility to feed our nation be taken away.

‘This is a last resort but we as farmers are in despair as we simply cannot afford to provide food to the public.’

Organisers said the strike will not involve dairy farmers because milk and eggs cannot be held back.

But the action could hit meat supplies, as UK farms have an 80 per cent share of the British beef market, while 90 per cent of fresh poultry in supermarkets is British-reared.

Meanwhile, the UK’s 100,000 farms produce 66 per cent of the country’s lamb, and around 50 per cent pork.

Some 81 per cent of wheat consumed in Britain is produced here, nearly all barley and oats and 56 per cent of vegetables.

One farmer taking part in the strike said: ‘Our food security is at significant risk as a consequence of what they (Labour) have done. We’ll have to go on strike because they only seem to listen to people who do.’

Welsh hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, 57, said he has reluctantly decided to take part in the strike because he fears the future of the industry is at risk.

He said: ‘We don’t want people in the shops panic buying and we don’t want total food shortages but it’s a shot across the bows against the government. Further action could follow.

‘My family has been farming for 375 years and I fear my generation will be the last.’

Tim Taylor, one of the organisers of the campaign in England, who runs an animal feed business and is a Tory member of Fenland District Council in Cambridgeshire, said: ‘The aim is to disrupt but not to decimate the supermarket shelves.. We would like to think this would achieve public support.’

Charlotte Ashley, 36, who keeps cows and sheep with husband Roy, 40, near Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, said they are not in a position to strike but added: ‘I think that withholding non-perishable items for a week could be some starting point.

‘Farmers 100 per cent need to send a clear message to Rachel Reeves.’

Mental health support lines for farmers have been ‘inundated’ since the announcement by Ms Reeves, leaders of the planned strike say.

Last week, the family of South Yorkshire farmer John Charlesworth, 78, revealed he took his own life the day before the Budget to prevent his children being hit by IHT.

Clive Bailye (CORR), who runs The Farming Forum discussion website, said he expected 10,000 farmers to turn up at next week’s rally.

Staffordshire farmer Mr Bailye said of the strike: ‘I can see it happening, leading to some shortages. Slightly more militant groups are talking of French-style protests, too.’

He said the event aimed to be ‘a show of strength – for farmers and their families to come to Westminster but without their tractors’.

Mr Bailye also said farmers are planning to stop taking sewage slurry from water companies – giving the government a further ‘s***storm’ to deal with.

Separately, farmers plan to target Welsh Labour’s autumn conference in Llandudno, this Friday, but have not revealed details.

Although official data states the average farm is 88 hectares – some 217 acres – and land prices average nearly £12,000 per acre, the government maintains IHT changes will not affect ‘the vast majority of farmers’.

It adds: ‘This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while fixing the public services.’

Related Posts

Ben Fordham left stunned as top professor exposes what Australia got wrong during Covid

A visiting UK professor of medicine stunned radio host Ben Fordham by delivering a blistering takedown of Covid lockdowns, quarantine, masks, and vaccines. Angus Dalgleish, a professor of oncology at London’s St George’s University who also sits on the European Commission Cancer Board, told Fordham Australia’s Covid response was ‘absolutely appalling’, ‘madness’ and ‘disgraceful’. His unconventional views go against the recent Covid Response Inquiry verdict that ‘Australia fared well relative to other nations that experienced larger losses in human life, health system collapse and more severe economic downturns’.

Trump plans to kick transgender troops out of the military with 15,000 service members to be ‘medically discharged’ on his first day in office, report claims

President elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to issue an executive order on his ‘first day in office’ to ban transgender members of the military. The controversial order would cause as many as 15,000 active service members to be ‘medically discharged’ – deeming them unfit to serve, according to The Times. Trump seeks to issue the executive action on January 20, 2025 or Day 1 of his term, the Times said, preventing any transgender people from enlisting in the military as all branches continue to struggle with recruitment.

Revealed: How ‘Morrisons Four’ stole £120k of goods from British supermarkets on orders of international crime gang

A gang of shoplifters dubbed the ‘Morrisons Four’ by police stole £120,000 of goods from British supermarkets on the orders of an international crime gang, an investigation has found. The shoplifters were ordered to steal from more than 50 branches of Morrisons by gangs from Romania, who then resold the goods through a wholesaler and car boot sales. A new Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, Britain’s Shoplifting Gangs Exposed, lays bare how dozens of retailers appear to have been targeted in this way.

Megyn Kelly issues withering assessment of Trump Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth

Megyn Kelly has issued a withering assessment of Pete Hegseth amid reports he allegedly 𝑠e𝑥ually assaulted a woman in 2017. Kelly, 54, who worked with Hegseth, now 44, at Fox News, joined the Charlie Kirk Show and gave her opinion on the allegations swirling around Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary. When asked by Kirk about the ‘smear campaign’ against Hegseth, Kelly, who said she’s ‘the reason’ he became a Fox News contributor, admitted that she doesn’t ‘recommend marrying’ him.

Meet the man behind the petition demanding a general election: More than one million Britons have called for change amid fury at Labour’s Budget tax raid

The man who set up a petition demanding a fresh general election which has picked up over a million signatures has said people feel ‘betrayed’ by Labour. Michael Westwood, who is the owner of Britain’s ‘cheapest pub’, said he didn’t imagine in his ‘wildest dreams’ that his campaign, which has been reposted by Elon Musk, would get such traction. The petition, which complains that Keir Starmer has ‘gone back on promises’, has been gaining over 100,000 backers an hour.

Father of British ex-soldier, 22, who was ‘captured by Putin’s forces while fighting for Ukraine on Russia soil’ says he’s terrified he’ll be tortured in captivity after he was paraded on TV

A British former soldier has been captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine in Kursk, his family confirmed tonight. The soldier, James Scott Rhys Anderson, was paraded in front of the cameras and a short video clip published by Kremlin-backed sources online. The 22-year-old’s father told the Daily Mail he was in ‘complete shock’ to discover his son’s fate and said he fears he will be tortured.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *