Labour is facing fury for “destroying” British farms with its cruel tax raid while sending hundreds of millions of pounds to support foreign farmers.
An investigation found the UK’s aid budget is handing huge sums of money to farmers in Africa, Asia, and South America.
More than £536 million is being spent overseas on ten programmes including grants to promote low-carbon agriculture practices in Brazil, the world’s 11th richest country.
Another scheme, worth more than £16 million, aims to produce tea in Rwanda for the first time.
Shadow cabinet minister Robert Jenrick criticised Labour for “spending hundreds of millions on foreign farmers while British livelihoods are destroyed by their cruel inheritance tax changes”.
:
Farmers in Africa, Asia and South America are receiving hundreds of millions of pounds in aid (Image: Getty)
“That will feel like a slap in the face for many British farmers. It’s not too late for Starmer to listen, admit he’s made a big mistake, and actually keep a promise he made at the election,” he added.
Conservative MP Greg Smith, who represents rural Mid Buckinghamshire, said the revelation is “a total outrage” and “yet another absurdity from this Labour Government”.
He added: “It is beyond belief they try to claim to be on the side of British farmers, whilst simultaneously introducing the cruel Family Farm Tax, bumping up the cost of fertiliser and now directly funding foreign farmers.”
Just last month the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office launched a new fund to send £24 million of British taxpayers’ cash to Kenya and other countries to help build profitable businesses that contribute to their food security, drive economic growth and create jobs and income in rural areas.
It stands in stark contrast to claims that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ inheritance tax raid imperils Britain’s own food security and will harm the rural economy.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted that farmers remain the “backbone of Britain” and announced £5 billion into farming over the next two years, the largest amount ever directed towards sustainable food production.
Robert Jenrick described the revelation as a ‘slap in the face’ (Image: Getty)
The research sparked a backlash in light of Ms Reeves’ decision to levy inheritance tax on family farms in Britain, a move that the Treasury says will raise £520 million a year.
Reform UK leader demanded that the Government “put British farmers first” and called the foreign aid spending “a disgrace”.
He said: “It is a disgrace that as British family farms face ruin as a result of Labour’s tax plans, at the same time we are proposing to spend more than that – £536 million – on foreign farms”.
“Net Zero in Africa seems to matter more to this government than the traditional British landscape.”
The Taxpayers’ Alliance’s investigations campaign manager Joanna Marchong warned: “British farmers will be outraged to hear that foreign farmers are getting more support from the government than they are.
“Labour has announced a rise in inheritance tax that will see many farmers lose their livelihoods and farms that have been in their families for generations. All for the sake of a few pennies.
“Reeves should cut funding to farms abroad and focus on supporting British farmers who directly contribute to their communities and our county’s food security.”
Don’t miss…
Nigel Farage has demanded the government ‘put British farmers first’ (Image: Getty)
Welsh sheep and beef farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, who is a leading British farming social media influencer, told the Daily Express that charity must begin at home, warning Ms Reeves not to “bite the hand that feeds you”.
Mr Jones said that the recent floods in Spain should be a wake-up call to the government about how crucial domestic food production and security is.
He added that the Government should have “pulled the money from abroad and invested in UK farms”, rather than clobbering British producers with the new tractor tax which will push up food prices and hurt the poorest.
“No, they’d rather spend a load of dosh on Rwanda to produce tea and ship it all over the world,” he added.
The 10 active foreign aid programmes cover multiple years, with one £206 million fund to improve agricultural productivity in developing countries launching in 2012 and running through to 2031.
However many began less than five years ago, including nearly £1 million to bring about “economic transformation in Ghana through developing markets for agriculture and trade”.
Another programme launched in 2023 by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office created a new programme worth a whopping £105 million to develop more resilient farming systems in “unspecified developing countries”.
A government spokesman said: “We are committed to supporting farmers here in the UK – which is why we are investing £5 billion into farming at home over the next two years – the largest amount ever for sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in this country’s history.”
A Labour source argued that the foreign aid budget was set at 0.5% by ’s government, and kept in place by successive Conservative administrations.