Is the Prime Minister a robot? When confronted with the harrowing reality that terminally ill farmers are considering ending their lives before April 2026 to save their families from his new Family Farm Tax raid, the Prime Minister did not dispute the claims.
He did not pause for a moment of genuine human empathy; he merely said it ‘had his attention’. The question, brought by one of his own MPs, exposes the callous nature of this Labour government.
Family farms are the stewards of our nation’s history; they are the ones that make the countryside look the way it does. But like his plan to give away the Chagos Islands, Keir Starmer seems hell bent on destroying all that makes this country great.
You might be reading this and wondering, 'Why don’t farmers just pay the tax?' Well, it’s because they can’t afford to. Farmland has enormously increased in paper value, but what farmers sell has not. The price of wheat is roughly the same today as it was in 2004.
About a third of farmers work for under the minimum wage; there is simply not enough money flowing through family farms to pay a fifth of the farm's value every generation.
There are usually ways to plan for this; you can gift your farm to your children and then hope you live for seven years, but because of what is called the ‘anti-forestalling’ clause, Labour has blocked anyone who tried to pass their farm on before the 1st of April.
It means many terminally ill farmers, who know they will not live to see Christmas next year, are considering the unthinkable. Last night I spoke with a regional director for the Farming Community Network (FCN), which is the equivalent of the Samaritans for farmers, and he was clear: there is an increasing number of people presenting to the service with acute stress, and the number becoming increasingly desperate has grown since the budget.
Keir Starmer's response to farmers considering suicide over inheritance tax filled me with horror - James Wright | PA
The tragic irony is that this policy will not hurt the wealthy land speculators Labour claims to target; it will simply hand them the keys to the countryside. When family farms sell to pay the tax, the land will be snapped up by corporate giants and rewilding charities who don’t pay this tax!
We are witnessing the state-sponsored dismantling of the family business model that has fed Britain for centuries, replaced by a soulless corporate monoculture that will leave our food security in the hands of a few boardroom executives.
There is still time for Labour to change course; they could remove the cap. Keir Starmer may not be Prime Minister come the 1st of April. There will be other votes between now and April, and there may be more brave Labour MPs like Markus Campbell-Savours who will choose to vote against it.
If you’re a farmer and you’re reading this, wondering how you might pay the tax or dealing with stress, please call the completely confidential FCN hotline on 03000 111 999 or the Samaritans on 116 123. You are not alone. The nation has your back, as do your fellow farmers.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
More From GB News