Keir Starmer runs scared as he abandons visit due to furious farmers’ protest

Sir Keir Starmer has been forced to go into hiding and abandon a visit in Buckinghamshire due to a furious and noisy tractor protest.

The Prime Minister was hoping to visit a housing development near Milton Keynes to promote his latest announcement of 100 new towns to alleviate the housing crisis.

However, dozens of furious farmers and their tractors were waiting to protest against the Government’s decision to levy inheritance tax on their estates after death.

Videos from the Farmers to Action group showed numerous tractors “greeting as he arrives for the opening of a new housing development”, demanding that Rachel Reeves abolish inheritance tax for all farmers.

It is now reported that the Prime Minister has abandoned the planned visit due to the protest and called off media interviews.

It comes just days after the latest furious protest in Whitehall, where hundreds of tractors blockaded Westminster and demanded a U-turn by the Chancellor.

Daniel Zeichner, a senior farming minister, also sparked fury when he claimed farming is not high up on the Government’s list of priorities.

Sir Keir was condemned at Prime Minister’s Questions for Mr Zeichner’s comments.

Tory MP Harriet Cross said: “Yesterday the farming minister told a conference of farmers that farming is ‘not high in the pecking order for this Government’.”

“Given the heartless family farms tax, is his minister correct? Yes or no.”

A humiliated Prime Minister was forced to slap down his minister for the comments, insisting: “Farming’s top of the agenda as far as I’m concerned.”

His reply sparked merciless laughter from the Opposition benches.

Sir Keir continued: “That’s why we’ve put £5million to support farmers in the Budget, they failed to spend £300million on their watch on farming, and we’ve set out our roadmap which has been welcomed by the NFU, as she very well knows.”