On Tuesday, I met many of the local farmers who had travelled down to Westminster to join the NFU-led lobby of Parliament about the changes to inheritance tax announced in the Budget.
Their stories about how the changes to Agricultural Property Relief will affect them and their families were intensely moving and told with real passion. The work of generations of farmers is at risk because of these poorly thought-through proposals.
They signal a fundamental lack of understanding on the part of the Government of the way farming works in this country. It not only threatens individual family farms, it threatens our nation’s food security too.
That lack of understanding is troubling because it may well impact other elements of agriculture policy in future.
When I first became your MP a decade ago, my knowledge of farming and farmers was rudimentary. I made it a big part of my job to spend time on farms getting to know how family farms – the overwhelming majority of the farms in our area – worked.
I milked the cows, I herded the sheep, fed the pigs and graded the eggs so that I could understand what farming was like for those who do the job, day in day out, often for 365 days a year and sometimes for marginal returns.
That’s why I know that family farms are not like other businesses and their future, in too many instances, is placed in jeopardy by these changes and the failure to understand their unique qualities.
Most importantly, family farms put food on our plates. This might sound blindingly obvious to us, but too many people take the plentiful supply of food in this country for granted. But it doesn’t appear in the supermarket by magic and, given the increasing instability of our world, the importance of the UK’s food security is growing.
This point was made forcefully by many of the farmers I met on Tuesday. There is a disconnect between this Government and the agricultural sector with a lack of understanding of why farming is different from other business.
This is why I raised the issue in the Commons last week, urging the Government to commit to continue publishing the UK Food Security Index.
The Index is a crucial tool for evaluating the UK's resilience in ensuring a steady and sustainable food supply amidst global uncertainties. I was proud to unveil it at the 10 Downing Street Food to Fork Summit in May and the NFU conference earlier this year. I see it as essential to measure our food security and ensure that domestic food production remains the foundation of our nation’s food security.
I am proud that our manifesto committed us to going further and introducing a legally-binding target to boost our food security.
As it stands, the Government’s ill-considered plans threaten to undermine our farmers’ ability to produce the food we all need.
I stand foursquare behind our farmers in their opposition to the government’s proposals – here in North Yorkshire and at Westminster.
