Minister says food shortage plan in place as farmers threaten strike action over tax

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. In an interview with Sir Trevor Phillips on his Sunday morning show on Sky News, transport secretary Louise Haigh said the government would be “setting out” its contingency plans for the winter, as concerns mount over the furious backlash to a decision to apply inheritance tax to farms. Sir Trevor asked Ms Haigh: “Can you assure us the government has contingency plans in place to make sure that we don’t have food shortages if the farmers carry out their threats to ratchet up action?” She replied: “Of course Defra will be setting out plans for the winter, and, business as usual, will be setting out contingency plans ensuring that food security is treated as the priority it deserves.” The admission was described as “unbelievable” by one of the farmers’ leaders, Gareth Wyn Jones, who was involved in a protest on Saturday in Llandudno, where the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer was speaking to the Welsh Labour conference. Defending him, Ms Haigh said: “What Keir Starmer laid out to our colleagues at the Welsh conference yesterday was a defence of the Budget.” She added: “None of us came into power to levy taxes on farmers.” Noting that she has friends and family in the farming sector, she said: “We do understand concerns, and we appreciate how hard farmers work.” But she insisted that the family farm tax is “fair and proportionate”. So I understand their strength of feeling, but we are not supporting that action.” Asked why farmers should be protected from inheritance tax, when passing on assets worth £1m or more “lies beyond the wildest dreams of most people”, Mr Bradshaw said: “I recognise you may have people watching today that struggle to be able to afford the weekly shop, or the daily shop, and that is a really, really challenging situation.