Labour peer under fire for saying ‘farmers with shiny tractors not poor'

Telegraph

03-05-2025

A Labour peer has come under fire for saying farmers protesting in Whitehall against the Government's inheritance tax (IHT) raid 'did not look very poor' because of their 'shiny tractors'.
Lord Foulkes, a minister under Sir Tony Blair, said that the protesters who had come to Westminster drove 'sparkling, new, expensive tractors'.
He suggested that Conservative opposition to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves' raid against farmers was because 'they always want to make the rich even richer'.
The remarks prompted fury from farming and rural organisations, who said they only 'widened the divide between countryside and Westminster'.
A key argument from the farming community against the IHT raid is that farmers are typically asset rich, but income poor.
Challenging a colleague, the Labour peer told the House of Lords on Thursday: 'Did my noble friend notice that, when the farmers blocked Whitehall with their tractors – sparkling, new, expensive tractors – they did not look very poor?
'Has he noticed that, when the Tories talk about tax, they always want to make the rich even richer?'
Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, said: 'This Labour peer has revealed what Labour really thinks about the countryside: that all family farmers must be rich and Labour is happy to tax them out of existence.
'Labour ministers' excuses for pushing through the vindictive Family Farm Tax don't add up but they don't care. With their super majority, city-dwelling ministers have calculated they can target and tax the countryside and family businesses.'
The Government has so far refused a U-turn on its planned changes to agricultural property relief, which would introduce a 20 per cent inheritance tax on estates worth more than £1 million.
Farming and rural organisations have said the tax could be ruinous for family businesses and risks creating a mental health crisis among older farmers.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance, accused Lord Foulkes of being 'out of touch'.
He told The Telegraph: 'The family farm tax and general government approach to rural policy so far is clearly damaging Labour's reputation in rural areas.
'I suspect there are numerous Labour rural MPs that shudder when colleagues deliver such out-of-touch commentary.
'There is a concern within the countryside that many in Labour are pursuing this dangerous tax for ideological kicks and comments like this only widen the divide between countryside and Westminster'.
Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers' Union, said: 'Trying to link having a valuable machine which is part of the working capital of the farm, often on higher purchase rather than owned outright, it feels like they're looking for excuses not to change rather than recognising the genuine problems.'
It comes after Labour lost more than 180 councillors in the local elections, with Reform UK making sweeping gains in rural areas such as Lincolnshire.
In response to Lord Foulkes' remarks, Lord Livermore, Labour's growth minister in the Lords, said: 'It is incredibly important that the decisions we take make the tax system fairer and more sustainable, and I believe that is absolutely what we are doing.
'Despite a very tough fiscal context, we are maintaining considerably more generous reliefs in this sector than exist anywhere else in the tax system.'