Letter to Editor: Why Conservative candidate for Harlow and the villages backs farmers
Business / Tue 19th Nov 2024 at 06:10pm
Dear Sir,
THOUSANDS of farmers descended upon Westminster today to call on Labour to reverse the Family Farm Tax. I was proud to stand alongside them.
I think inheritance tax is wrong as a matter of principle, but to impose it on family farms is both cruel and foolish. It will shatter farms that have been worked for generations, destroy the livelihoods of tenants, and increase food prices for everyone else.
During the General Election, I met with farmers across our constituency – from Nazeing up to Great Canfield – to learn about the vital and tireless work they do.
It is incredibly disappointing that our new Labour MP voted for this Family Farm Tax. He promised to be “upfront and honest with the farming community” but Labour promised the National Farmers Union they had no plans to change their inheritance tax rules if they won the General Election. Another broken promise on tax rises.
Our farmers are the backbone of both our countryside and our country. I will continue to do all I can to defend their interests. I hope the Government listens to them before it’s too late.
Yours ever,
Hannah Ellis
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Harlow and the Villages, 2024
Brian Ashton
2024-11-19 19:01:24
It is quite sad really that the Minister in charge of Defra went on the tv rounds the other day and said he "thought" only a few farms would be impacted. But here is the sad state of affairs, we only produce 55% of the food we need to feed this country in the UK. After this latest budget, farmers costs will go up, with the increase in the minimum wage, NI contributions. Super Market's costs will also go up, as they have to absorb even higher NI contributions, so these will be passed onto us, the "Working People" in terms of higher food costs. And with the increase in tuition fees (taxing education) and the increase on the bus price cap from £2 to £3 (which by my calculation is a 50% increase). What's next? A tax on disabilities or breathing?
Mike
2024-11-19 19:26:24
I wonder if Hannah Ellis also supported Brexit, implemented by her own government? Brexit and the poor trade deals that Johnson delivered has done far more damage to farmers in this country than this Inheritance Tax will ever do. And why shouldn't the wealthiest farmers pay Inheritance Tax anyway? Everyone else has to pay it when they inherit property. And as for Clarkson and Dyson... Everyone knows people like them only put their millions into farms and land to avoid paying inheritance tax in the first place.
Kevin
2024-11-19 19:27:23
Labour voters need sectioning.
Hugo
2024-11-19 22:28:50
It is of no surprise to me that the Conservative candidate is supporting self admitted tax avoiders like Jeremy Clarkson, who claims to have bought a farm to avoid IHT. Perhaps the Conservative candidate can confirm if she also supports James Dyson, the Brexit-supporting billionaire's move to Singapore after the EU referendum. After moving into buying farm land, the Conservative-supporting Spectator magazine wrote: "It is hard to believe that concerns about inheritance tax did not enter his head when he moved into farming." Married farmers who own property will now have an effective inheritance tax-free threshold of three million pounds. Perhaps the Conservative candidate can explain why billionaires like Dyson should be treated more favourably than non-farmer couples who only get a £650,000 threshold. Also, the tax that farmers pay over the threshold is only 20%, half what everyone else pays. Can the Conservative candidate explain why she is supporting a favourable tax environment to tax avoiding billionaires? No, don't bother, it's what the Conservatives always do. Support the rich getting rich and not paying their fair share of tax. If the farmers are so upset with paying a slightly fairer amount of tax, perhaps they should hand back all the EU subsidies and government grants that have been handed out to tax avoiding farmers over the years.
Boris
2024-11-19 22:41:26
There seems to be an incredible amount of nonsense spouted around this tax change. This from Farming uk "The figures, from the House of Commons Library, show that between 2015 and 2023, farmers saw the equivalent of a £722m cut in real terms to their subsidies, with no increase since 2017. This equates to a 20% real terms cut in just eight years, with the total direct public payments to farmers now standing at less than £3 billion." So the torys who are so keen to support farmers have actually been screwing them for years. Hannah,where was your voice? It is all very puzzling. Lots of reports suggested that farmers income is poor. So how does a poorly earning business get to have a high valaution. I suspect it is in the valuation of land, farming land valued for farming has to have a lower value than if that land was sold eg for housing or solar panels. Sure;ly, any decent Accountant would ensure a lower valuation is applied. Yes, I do support farming like I support all uk business. I actually get disheartened at how cheap milk is at 47p a pint (4 pts at Tesco pricematched to Aldi). If we really support farmers we would demand that they get paid a decent price whilst they are living.
Tony
2024-11-19 23:47:21
Hannah - You told me that small business was the backbone of our country - Why should I believe anything you tell me?
Tim
2024-11-20 00:08:49
Good to see Hannah Ellis has the type of job where she can take a few hours off in the middle of the day to go and protest and take pictures. Central London was a mess today for those of us who work hard and pay our taxes to subsidise these farmers' lifestyles. Next time they want to do this, they should take a lesson from the Gaza lot and do it at the weekend.
Dan
2024-11-20 00:36:54
20% IHT is a good start. Next, let's begin to wean them off of Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief and make sure that they only get handouts for doing ‘Green’ stuff. When that is done we can look at the uplift on the value of agricultural land by obtaining planning permission. 50% should go straight to the local planning authority to pay for new roads and schools needed for all these new houses, so we are not left to pay the bill again.
Seamus
2024-11-20 01:13:39
Who was it who said on their parties official facebook account on the 13th of September 2023 whilst visiting a farm, "When I was a teenager, my first job was on a farm. I know that a thriving farming sector is vital for our environment, our economy and our nation's future. My Labour government will roll up our sleeves and deliver for Britain’s farmers. #BackBritishFarming" Yup, Kier Starmer. There is a pattern evolving here. The big money Labour said they would go after, they have not. However they have gone after our elderly, our employers, small and medium business's, our armed services and now our food security. Who would have thought a party created to help the average man and women in the U.K. would be the party that seems to be starting a class war.
David
2024-11-20 07:35:31
No doubt that Yes man Harlow Labour MP Chris Vince backs the government on this policy,
Philip
2024-11-20 07:45:53
I know lots of farmers and believe me not one of them are poor, they should stop wingeing and get on with the job, pay your taxes like the rest of us
Guy Flegman
2024-11-20 08:11:26
So much for uniting the country. Well done labour
DavidT
2024-11-20 08:39:26
No sign of Chris Vince? No? Oh no, that's right... He'll be bowing & scraping and toeing the Party line like a good boy. Just like he did with the Bill to kill off pensioners.
AB
2024-11-20 08:46:50
Taxing very wealthy farmers is a good start, now the Government needs to raise taxes on the mega-rich.
Adam
2024-11-20 08:52:03
14 years in government and all they did was rise taxes, amazing how once in opposition they grow as spine. As for everyone on this thread saying farmers should pay more or the wealthy should pay more. Lets be honest most tax is wasted and most people clamouring for higher taxes are doing so because it will not affect them. I bet most people wanting higher taxes have never even been within sniffing distance of contributing more than they take which is paying in more than £17k a year in income taxes or £64K for a family of four. Makes you think right, about just how we need those high payers to fund most peoples education, healthcare, etc.
Guy Flegman
2024-11-20 09:51:40
I have travelled a lot in my holidays and have met a lot of people from lots of backgrounds while on holidays, but I have never met a farmer on holiday. Wonder why?
Peter
2024-11-20 09:54:02
Seamus, how have labour gone after small businesses?
David Forman
2024-11-20 11:03:30
Highlighting James Dyson as a reason for this policy is citing the extreme end of the spectrum. Most small farms are family owned and tend to be asset rich and cash poor. Paying off Inheritance Tax will require some machinery or land to be sold which will affect the viability of the farm. The government has forgotten that some plant hire businesses that store large equipment on farmland will also be affected. A more nuanced policy that sorts the Dysons from the farmer Giles is needed. A Construction News article explains the Inheritance Tax changes risks undermining the plant hire industry: https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/supply-chain/inheritance-tax-changes-spell-death-of-the-plant-hire-industry-15-11-2024/#:~:text=Mulholland%20explained%20the%20impact%20of,that%20meets%20the%20green%20agenda.%E2%80%9D
Seamus
2024-11-20 11:40:23
Peter, Did you not notice the increase in employers national insurance contributions? Who do you think will pay that? The small business's have no other option than to pass it on to the customer. Just as they will with the increase in the minimum wage. It also reduces the incentive to increase staffing for smaller business's who are already walking a very thin line as they are just about managing and with a profit so small that cash surplus for re-investment into equipment, training etc. What adds to this is when asked is this the last of the big tax increases? (something Labour said they would not do) Labour indicated this is just the first of many. Small business's only have a small bandwidth between operating or closing. What Labour are doing is targeting the easy and small targets and even that now is not showing the growth labour promised. Peter can I ask you a question? Knowing what the Prime minister said to farmers and the nation about farmers, do you think he is safeguarding food security or stabbing farmers in the back after telling farmers labour had their back?
Stephen Archer
2024-11-20 11:42:07
After a lifetime of writing songs, playing with cars, or selling ridiculously expensive household appliances, I wonder what it is that attracts these wealthy celebrity "farmers" to the land? Is it a natural attraction towards the land which has nurtured us, and to which we shall all inevitably return? Or is it that buying land has been a jolly good tax dodge?
Guy Flegman
2024-11-20 13:01:49
All systems get abused by a small minority. Would some of the commentators here back the scrapping of the benefits system just because a small minority abuse it. I think not.
Dan
2024-11-20 13:54:35
That’s right Hannah, you defend the interest of the wealthy farmers. Maybe next time you’re at Pony Club, you can ask them why the cost of food has gone up so much over the last few years for all of us? – Maybe ask the guardians of the countryside why we are paying so much more for food produced in this country, while food from overseas it cheaper than it was a few years ago? In December 2020 we were paying 56p for potatoes – Now they are 92p per kilo – That’s not food security, it’s robbery! An imported avocado by contrast was 95p in December 2020 and is now only 92p ---- We are paying billions to these people in handouts for the privilege of paying more for our food ---- Take back the subsidies and take away the trade barriers which stop us getting cheaper food from abroad. Give us what your lot promised that Brexit would give us.
View from Afar
2024-11-20 14:04:07
Some examples we’ve bought - blueberries from Peru, South Africa. Chicken dinner from Poland. Radishes from Israel, cucumbers from Holland.. All from major a supermarket. I know some items are seasonal and people want to buy some fruit etc all year round but chicken from Poland?
Peter
2024-11-20 16:08:16
Seamus, small business NI will reduce in April due to the massive increase in the Employers Allowance. I don't think it is great news for farmers but my impression is that many farmers say they are struggling so what would help perhaps is if we all paid a bit more for basics like milk rather than benefit from the intense price competition between Aldi and the others. The changes don't come into effect until April 26, plenty of time for a bit of tax planning. The minimum wage increase isn't a budget thing, it was fully expected,. You mention training, with higher staff costs there is a bigger incentive to improve training and productivity, our productivity has been woeful in recent years
Peter
2024-11-20 16:13:42
In all these comments there is no reference to govt spending. what is it, around a trillion£ per annum. Surely it is possible to save some of this. I read the other day that there are nearly as many Ministry of Defence civil servants for the army and airforce as there are servicemen. The approach to pensions does seem forward thinking.
charlie
2024-11-20 18:30:32
Reading through the comments on here, referring to the Inheritance Tax and some support what the Government are doing. Why should anyone pay Inheritance Tax at all. If Farmer's or anyone else for that matter have worked hard all their lives, and have saved enough to hand down to their children, and are also very well off, they have already paid tax on their money, and now this Government want to tax that as well. It is only just over 4 months since Starmer and his cronies have taken over the country, and already we have seen them cutting the winter fuel allowance for pensioner's, Increasing N. Ins. contributions for employers, which will result in businesses, cutting staff, or closing altogether, and now this Inheritance tax issue. The N. Ins. increases will hit the hospitality sector hard, we will have pubs closing down as well as restaurants, and staff losing their jobs as well. The hospitality sector has only just recovered from the Covid crisis, where staff either lost their jobs, and a lot never returned. We have visited places and found that some of them have only been serving drinks and no food as they can't get the staff. Something drastic needs to happen in this country, before Labour completely lead us to the point of no return. Labour have no idea how to handle the economy, or run the country. They should resign as soon as possible.
Seamus
2024-11-21 20:41:46
If Starmers Government was genuinely interested in clawing back taxes, why haven't they applied taxes to mp's gifts? According to the MP's register of interests, Starmer in 2023 - 2024 was gifted in cash and gifts £68,819.68. We have 650 mp's, why are these mp's recieving tax free gifts but farmers who are our only food security advocates, forced to sell land/farms to pay tax bills on inheritance
Marie
2024-11-22 08:12:09
I support our farmers 100% This Government should hang their heads in shame. They have robbed our pensioners and now are attacking our farming industry. Who is next on this governments hit list? What have the labour MPs given up to help this these millions of deficit? Have our MPs taken a hit on their expenses ? What about all the perks your labour chums receive. Why do MPs get child benefit of over £6000 per child for 3 children yet everyone else can only get child benefit for a max of 2 children. This Government are freeloaders Taking from the poorest and lining their own pockets. Who are the real Thieves here need I say more !
Limpa Loof
2024-11-22 17:18:16
Tax evasion is illegal, using the system to dodge tax is not illegal, so the rich bought farms, to assist them in paying less tax, but the majority of farms in this Country, have been handed down from one generation to the next and they do a hell of a good job of feeding the nation, so now this numpty government, is punishing all farmers, not just those that are financially rich who bought the farm to legally avoid tax, but also the farmer whose assets are the farm, but finances are virtually zero. You watch all your food prices go up next year, with additional inflation, and maybe shortages of food in the supermarkets, the stupid elected this bunch of clowns into government. And we will all suffer.
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