Nearly 60 farmers and countryside enthusiasts crowded into a room at The Sidmouth Arms, Upottery last Friday to hear from Neil Parish (Former MP for Tiverton and Honiton and Chairman, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee and previously Member of the European Parliament) and to discuss the present situation in the farming community, in particular the Government’s controversial policy of increasing the Inheritance Tax on family-owned and run farms.
The event, organised by Honiton and Sidmouth Conservative Association (HSCA), was attended also by the Leaders of the Conservative Group East Devon District Councils, Conservative Candidates for the upcoming Devon County Council elections and Solicitors, Accountants and Land Agents as well as members from the Association and indeed from as far away as Brixham.
Mr Parish, a lifelong farmer himself, spoke passionately of his real concern about how the present Labour Government is treating the farming community - and in fact it was a Labour Government proposing a “transfer tax for farmers” that got him involved in politics many years ago. He went on to say “this government is obsessed with punishing those involved in agriculture, farming and the land, they do not understand the countryside…it is not full of landed gentry as they would have everybody believe”.
He talked about the welcoming growing list of supermarkets with concerns against the Government on Inheritance Tax. A petition with over 270,000 signatures urging the government to abandon its policy has now been delivered to Downing Street. The change to inheritance tax meant that a number of farmers are now not planning to invest as they would have otherwise - as they will be having to put aside money for this tax. Food security was critical to this country - the amount of money raised by the tax will be minimal and disruption caused enormous; the government should be focussed on the country producing more local food. He urged that everybody who has an interest in quality local food being produced in the UK should lobby the Government hard in whatever way they legally can.
A lengthy Q&A session took place after his talk with overall strong agreement on his views, many attendees clearly being very angry with the Labour Government and vowing to continue with the battle against the Government “until it saw sense”.
Richard Collins, Chairman of HSCA said:
“The Association was delighted to hold this event in support of the farming community in the constituency. It was heartening to see so many supporters of the fight against the forthcoming inheritance tax, and it was noted that Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Conservative Party, has publicly stated that on a return of a majority Conservative Government this tax will be reversed. In the meantime, in a rural constituency such as this, it is clearly a real issue affecting many with family farms and the Association here stands fully with them in their continuing confrontation with the government on this.”
