As food price spike looms, don't let Tories and Labour turn farming into another culture war

Measures announced in the UK Budget that will increase the cost of imported fertiliser are causing concern among farmers and are likely to hit food prices

On Tuesday, farmers from all corners of the country and all four major farming unions descended upon London to make their voice heard as only someone with access to a Massey Ferguson can. The object of their ire – no prizes for guessing – was last month’s Budget.

The planned changes to inheritance tax (amongst a myriad of other issues great and small) have well and truly put the backs up of people in farming communities. There is little indication thus far that Labour have realised the extent of the hurt they have caused – but there is every indication that the Tories wish to turn this into yet another polarising culture war clash, replete with lines about “tofu eaters” and “Islington elites”.

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Political knockabout is an inevitable consequence of any Budget and the Tories are masters of this art. We will all be poorly served, however, if the long-term outcome is yet another “us versus them” conflict, driving a wedge between farming communities and city dwellers. It is in all our interests for farmers and crofters to thrive.

Farmers protest in London against changes to inheritance tax announced in the UK Budget last month (Picture: Dan Kitwood)Farmers protest in London against changes to inheritance tax announced in the UK Budget last month (Picture: Dan Kitwood)
Farmers protest in London against changes to inheritance tax announced in the UK Budget last month (Picture: Dan Kitwood) | Getty Images

Farmers condemn ‘cruel’ policy

On the same day as the farming rally in Westminster, entirely by coincidence, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee which I chair was taking public evidence from the Secretary of State, Steve Reed.

Questions over the Budget and its impact on farming communities were only one part of the session. You may not be shocked to learn that they took up a fairly hefty portion of it. The Rural Affairs Secretary was well-briefed but I am not certain that farmers watching will have agreed with his assertion that they were simply “wrong” to think their future was under threat.

I spent time earlier this month talking to young farmers in the Northern Isles – people who have been building their future in this industry and now feel at a loss because of what has come out of the Budget.

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One of those I spoke to described the tax changes as “cruel”. I would not ascribe intentional cruelty to the government but we should reflect on why there is such a strong sense of hurt here – rather than, as some have, simply reaching for easy assertions that all is well.

Rising fertiliser costs

After all, other issues in the Budget are starting to cause concern in a way that will hit farmers first but will impact us all before too long – such as the new “carbon border adjustment mechanism” raising the cost of imported fertiliser.

We all know what happened to food prices the last time we saw a spike in fertiliser costs due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Whatever the cause, another hike on food prices will be felt by families wherever they live. That is something to which ministers should pay more heed, and where a bit more scrutiny of government policy – both intentions and outcomes – is needed.

Farming is an integral part of our country. Its future is our future, whether we are farmers ourselves or not, or indeed whether we live in the countryside or not. Rather than engaging in a tit-for-tat culture war, we need to recognise that towns and cities need our rural communities – just as much as the other way around.

Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland

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