Starmer may be ‘softening’ on Labour’s ‘tractor tax’, NFU president claims

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. After a meeting in No 10 with the prime minister on Monday, NFU president Tom Bradshaw claimed there was “a more conciliatory tone” regarding the controversial change which some have dubbed a “tractor tax”. open image in gallery Jeremy Clarkson joined farmers protesting over the changes to inheritance tax rules “The prime minister is very much in listening mode, and I hope that he’s able to act on what he’s heard this afternoon.” Mr Bradshaw said: “We will continue to fight this, I want to work with the government but they are making it incredibly difficult.” His comments followed the news that at least 100 fed-up farmers are set to take to their tractors in a go-slow protest targeting Dover to show their frustration with the Labour government. She said: ‘Changes to agricultural property relief have hit us hard while we’re already struggling to cope with bereavement and losing Mum.’ What would the Prime Minister say to Sarah and her family, in what has been the most difficult year of their lives, in the light of the family farm tax?” While expressing sympathy and asking to be sent details of the case, Sir Keir stood by the policy. open image in gallery Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the controversial change in her autumn Budget He said: “On the question of inheritance of family farms, it is important to bear in mind that in a typical case, which is parents passing to a child, the threshold is £3 million, and that is why, as she knows, the vast majority of farms will be totally unaffected.” It comes days after Labour peer Baroness Mallalieu, who is president of the Countryside Alliance and joined farmers on a march against the tax changes, now warned her government that it is losing the trust of rural communities.