Armstrong: Labour’s red hand strikes farmers again

Diana Armstrong said: “This was the first Budget since Labour’s Family Farm Tax actually came into force in April, and the Chancellor had every opportunity to put it right. He has not touched it. There is not a line in this Budget on Agricultural or Business Property Relief.

“When the Government confirmed last year that it was pressing ahead, my colleague Robbie Butler said Labour’s red hand had slapped farmers in the face. Today it struck them again, and this time the tax is already law and already biting.

“Almost nine in ten farmers responding to a survey last month said these changes had increased stress or worry in their families. Nearly half said the young person who was meant to take over the farm is now less willing or less able to do it. That is what this policy is doing in farmhouses across Northern Ireland, and the Government said nothing to any of them today.

“Robin Swann MP has been fighting this at Westminster from the very first day, alongside farming families who took their own case to Parliament.

“There is worse in the detail. The cut to red diesel runs only until the first of July next year. After that the duty returns to where it was before 2022 and rises with inflation. That is a cliff edge in front of every farm business that depends on it, and it should have been made permanent.

“Anyone letting land in conacre will pay more as well, with tax on that income going from 20p in the pound to 24p from April 2027. A farmer selling up on retirement will find the lifetime limit on Business Asset Disposal Relief halved to £500,000, which can mean up to £30,000 more in tax.

“I will give credit where it is due. Suspending tariffs on fertiliser until the end of 2027 and on kerosene until the end of 2028 will help, and the kerosene decision matters to the many rural households here heating their homes with oil. Extending the fuel duty cut helps too.

“But there is nothing on index-linking our ring-fenced agriculture budget, and the Government is pressing ahead with expanding the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which will add further cost and paperwork for our producers.

“Farmers wanted a Budget that backed farming. They got one that gives with one hand and takes with the other, while the thing doing the most damage to family farms was left untouched.”