A British farmer has launched a scathing criticism of the Government’s approach to supporting agriculture, claiming ministers have failed to deliver on their promises to the farming community.
Douglas Turner told GB News that despite repeated assurances, the Prime Minister has not provided the help initially promised to farmers.
Following an NFU meeting today with the Government, the Union’s President Tom Bradshaw told GB News that Labour is “not willing to consider an alternative” to their raid on inheritance tax.
Bradshaw claimed: “As we went further through the meeting, it was very clear that the Government believed they are correct. They are not willing to look at any other alternatives.
Farmer Douglas Turner hit out at Keir Starmer for ‘not helping’ farmers
GB News / PA
“We have actually provided them with a solution which would still raise the revenue but would reduce the impact on those family businesses that don’t have the cash to pay it. And yet they say they’re not interested.”
Speaking to GB News hosts Dawn Neesom and Andrew Pierce, livestock farmer Douglas Turner emphasised the critical importance of domestic food production and security, and claimed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has “never helped farmers”.
“It’s about time that the Government did engage with farmers. They keep telling us that they’re there for the farmers, the Prime Minister said that he was going to help farmers to start with, but he never has done,” Turner said.
“We need farming, we need food,” he stressed, describing the daily struggles faced by those in the agricultural sector.
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NFU President Tom Bradshaw claimed that Labour is ‘not willing’ to find an alternative to the inheritance tax raid
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Turner detailed the gruelling work schedule faced by farmers across the country: “It’s a struggle, it’s hard work, we’re up at dawn, we go to bed at dusk. We’re doing seven days a week, as many hours as we need to, and the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to be on our side. Normally we do somewhere between 320 and 400 hours a month, depending on the seasons.
“We don’t stop work on a Friday, we can’t work from home because the animals wouldn’t come round for the food, and we do it until the job’s done. We’re making food for everybody, and the public need to realise that before it’s too late.”
The farmer also criticised the Government’s spending priorities and questioned the Prime Minister’s priorities and commitment to domestic issues.
Turner told GB News: “The Prime Minister was saying that we need to choose between the NHS and the farmers – no, we need to choose between the NHS, the farmers and all the money we pay on illegal immigrants all the time. It’s unfair and it’s not correct and it’s the taxpayers’ money.
Turner told GB News that the UK ‘needs food security’
GB News
“We’re told to diversify so we can make food cheaper, so we’re doing other things on the farm. We’re taking land and buildings out of farming, out of food production, which is totally wrong. What’s his mindset when he says, I’d rather be in Davos than actually be in Westminster? I think that sums it all up.”
Turner challenged what he sees as unfair environmental criticism of farming practices, particularly regarding livestock emissions.
“If we look at the amount of methane that comes out of landfill sites, the cows do absolutely nothing whatsoever,” he argued.
He pointed to other environmental concerns that he believes deserve more attention: “I’m on the flight path at Heathrow – we have aircraft coming in three times a day every 70 seconds into Heathrow. They want to put the third runway there, but we do not have food security.”
