Labour has ruined lives of farming communities with tax policy, Tories claim

Labour has ruined the “lives and dreams” of the farming community with its taxes, the Conservatives have said, as they pledged to reverse them if they win the next election.

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins termed Labour’s rural policies an “assault on the countryside” as activists surrounding her held placards calling Sir Keir Starmer a “farmer harmer”.

The Tories, along with farming organisations, have campaigned against the so-called “family farm tax” introduced by Rachel Reeves last year.

It means that from April 2026, farmers who previously did not have to pay inheritance tax on their agricultural property face a new effective rate of 20%.

The first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property, such as farmland, would not be taxed. There is a higher threshold of £3 million for couples passing on their farms.

Ms Atkins, wearing a Union flag blazer and stood in front of a JCB tractor, told the impromptu rally at the party’s conference in Manchester that Labour’s policies had caused anguish to farmers and their families.

She also admitted her party incorrectly focused on rewilding on farmland when it was last in power.

She said: “These people’s lives and dreams have been shattered by this Government. Farmers won’t forget and neither will we.

“It is shameful, it is enraging, it is an assault on the countryside. We will not stand for it and we will not back down.”

Ms Atkins went on to reiterate that if the Tories win the next election, it will reverse the taxes. “We will keep fighting for you, because we know that a strong countryside makes a strong country,” she said.

She later told activists that there is a “food and farming emergency”.

She will hold a summit later this year to put together policies to help farming and coastal communities, and added she will offer the policy outcomes from that to Labour “in the national interest”.

She said: “If this emergency is not dealt with urgently, we will see even more farms, even more agribusinesses, food and drink manufacturers and hospitality businesses closing. We will see workers laid off. We will see tenant farmers evicted. We will see food production tumble and we will see food prices continuing to rise.

“I hate to break it to you, but Labour is coming back for more in their Budget, and so we need to act fast, and act together.”

She renounced the approach of the last Tory government and said the next time the party holds the keys to Downing Street it will focus on food production. She also said a suite of Government environment bodies would have their powers reviewed.

She said: “I have been frank. We got some things right in government and we got some things wrong. We did a lot of good in farming and environmental policy about which we can rightly be proud.

“But we lost our focus for a while on the primary purpose of farming; to grow food. That changes now. Food production and food security will be at the heart of Conservative agricultural and environmental policy.”

She added: “This system of 34 quangos that regulate our land, our water and our food led by Natural England and the Environment Agency is outdated, and now seems to work against rural communities, not for them.

“It is a system built on the best of intentions, but it has morphed into a labyrinth of bureaucracy. A farmer told me last week it feels as though the system of Natural England and the Environment Agency is designed to trip you up, not help you.”