Upper Bann MP, Carla Lockhart, has challenged the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves to prioritise the repair of her relationship with the UK’s agricultural industry, following the aftermath of the controversial budget, over the creation of new economic trade deals.
She has accused Reeves of “burying her head in the sand” instead of negotiating with the farming unions to resolve the issues that have arisen on the back of the budget changes to inheritance tax.
The MP said: “Farmers and businesses throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland continue to vent their anger and frustration in the wake of the Labour government’s budget blow.
“Despite repeated invitations, the chancellor remains determined to ignore calls from UK farming unions seeking round-table talks.
“Rachel Reeves is burying her head in the sand and refusing to accept that her first budget is set to have devastating consequences for generations of farming families.”
During the chancellor’s address to the House of Commons earlier this week, following her recent three-day business trip to China, the DUP’s Westminster agriculture spokesperson, Lockhart, took the opportunity to challenge Reeve’s line of focus.
She chastised the chancellor for traveling to “China, New York, Washington, Toronto and Brussels” to establish trade deals, which she deems as a misdirection, when “Rome is burning” around her.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves
“Whilst all these foreign trade deals are very welcome, our vital homegrown businesses are facing a bleak future and economic turmoil in the chancellor’s hands.
“Chancellor Rachel Reeves won’t take time to meet with the Ulster Farmers’ Union, the NFU, the Farmers’ Union of Wales and NFU Scotland, to hear first-hand the devastating impact that her ‘death tax’ is going to have on family farms and small businesses.
“I am inviting the chancellor to commit to meeting with me on behalf of the thousands of people whose farms and rural family businesses are going to be decimated by her reckless tax grab. When is the treasury going to admit that its figures are flawed?,” she said.
She has claimed that farmers, who are in her view, “the lifeblood of rural communities” are at a “breaking point”, which in turn, compromises the security of the industry as a whole.
She has called on the Labour government to “take responsibility for its actions” and “stop turning its back” on the farmers who are feeding the nation, and supporting the rural economy as a result.
“The government is destroying and undermining British agriculture, and at the same time, is donating £536 million to other countries such as Africa, Asia and South America, including grants to promote low-carbon agriculture practices in Brazil – the world’s 11th richest country.
“It is also reported that farmers in Rwanda will benefit from a £16 million scheme aimed at helping them to produce tea. This is totally disgraceful and outrageous.
“UK farmers are being fleeced and their livelihoods destroyed, yet the environment secretary Steve Reed is trying to assure them that they are the ‘backbone of Britain’,” she added.
Lockhart has urged farmers across Northern Ireland to take part in the UFU’s planned six-county protest rally on Saturday, January 25, as an act of solidarity against the government’s tax plans.
However, she has stated her fears over the timing of the event, which may conflict with dairy farmer’s milking schedules.
“I have been contacted by farmers from across the province who think it’s not enough and are dismayed at the timing of the event. Many would prefer an earlier starting time to maximise farmer participation, especially from dairy farmers who have set afternoon milking times.
“Others feel more robust action is needed and have welcomed UFU promises that it will do ‘whatever it takes’ to overturn the farm tax heist,” the MP said.
