DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE FURY OF FARMERS, WARNS FARAGE

NIGEL Farage has said he is concerned about the impact that the new inheritance tax rules on family farms will have on the British landscape.

Speaking on GB News, he said: “Don’t underestimate the fury of farmers. We don’t see it very much in this country, it’s almost part of a sort of national life in France.

“But back in 2000 there was a big, big farmers protest. They blockaded refineries all over the country in a protest at the price of fuel.

“And it led to such shortages that there was a really big wobble. I would argue that was the worst moment that Tony Blair had as Prime Minister. The Conservatives, even for a brief moment, went ahead of Blair in the polls.

“So don’t underestimate the farmers. But you know, they need public support. People need to believe they’ve got a just cause if they’re going to do this .

“Now, next week, the National Farmers Union are organising a mass lobby, and there’ll be many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of farmers coming down to Westminster to speak to their members of Parliament.

“But there’s also an alternative protest that has been put on that may be a whole lot more vigorous. For some reason, the NFU don’t seem to back that.

“But farmers are genuinely threatening to go on strike, and that would mean withholding meat, withholding vegetables from the supermarkets, from the high street shops.

“They say that the inheritance tax rules will literally destroy the family farm.

“Would they be justified in basically going on strike and causing us a shortage of food in our shops. Do they have cause?

“I think that what you find is that land prices in the south and east of the country are so massively inflated that you might have a 300-acre farm that is producing actually a profit of £30,000 or £40,000 a year, and it’s worth six or seven million.

“Under normal inheritance tax rules, you’ve got to give stuff away seven years earlier. But in the case of the farming industry, it’s never been a factor.

“One thing about this country, and people from all around the world agree on this is we do have the most amazing landscape.

“And actually it’s family farmers through centuries that have been responsible for much of it, and anything that damages that I’m really worried about.”