Rupert Evans and his family (Image: Daily Express)
A farmer has warned that Rachel Reeves’s tax rules threaten to “irreversibly damage” local economies and “destroy” generational farms.
Father of two teenage sons Rupert Evans, 52, also told how the Government should be using opportunities to support British farming and food security.
The owner of , in east Staffordshire, said: “Farming is more than a job. It’s a legacy handed down through the generations. The new tax rules threaten to irreversibly damage the local economy and destroy these generational farms forcing families to sell their cherished land to big businesses.
“Local farmers are essential to the community, providing the wonderful produce we all enjoy. We’re proud to work with family farms to bring our customers fresh food from field to fork. This connection is at risk, and so is the heritage and lifestyle that sustain our countryside. Ultimately, aside from the community and family impacts, we’re an island and we can sustainably feed the nation with the resources we have at our doorstep.”
David Bowden with his son-in-law Rupert and grandsons (Image: Pete Stonier / Stoke Sentinel)
The farm, which employs 83 people, is also at risk because of National Insurance hikes, which could cost the family business £40,000, and changes to minimum wage.
Rupert said: “We are a bit fed up with these introductions but we’re not a group of people to be defeated. Farmers are very entrepreneurial. They’re clever people not to be defeated. While there might be a bit of a fight on their hands to say ‘we disagree with what this Government is doing. We will protest and we will fight them’ but on the same note, they won’t be defeated and they won’t say ‘this is all about failure’. We will think hard about how we can survive this new climate and we’ll find a way through it.”
He added: “I think people forget we’re an island. We’ve come out of Europe and I think part of coming out of Europe was to be more self-sufficient. This was a great opportunity to support British farming. If a world crisis happens, we could isolate ourselves a little bit from it by being more self-sufficient and it does upset me that we haven’t really looked to support farmers better. I can understand why they might feel a bit brow-beaten by all of this coming down the line.”
Farmers have been impacted by inheritance tax changes, NI hikes and minimum wage changes (Image: Pete Stonier / Stoke Sentinel)
Rupert called changes to inheritance tax at October’s Budget by the Chancellor as “unjust”.
He added: “Farmers don’t think about sitting on land as a cash reserve. They don’t want to suddenly cash in one day. They want to give the same opportunity to the next generation as they were given from their parents.
“We’re just custodians of the land. We like looking after it for the benefit of everybody who can see it and walk across it. We want to be able to produce good quality food for our nation and it would be nice to have a bit of support from the Government to recognise that sentiment that farmers have.”