Asda has publicly backed farmers in their row with Labour over its inheritance tax raid following tractor protests outside of supermarkets in a new blow to Starmer and Reeves. The Telegraph has the story.
The supermarket chain spoke out for the first time in response to a letter organised by protesting farmers calling on the retail giant to support British agriculture.
Dozens of tractors visited supermarkets in the Midlands and Sussex on Friday to call for their backing against Government plans to impose inheritance taxes on farms.
An Asda spokesman said: “Farming is a vital part of our supply chain. We need a confident farming sector which is able and willing to invest in its future.
“We have been raising our concerns with the Government and will be supporting the NFU’s [National Farming Union] campaign calling for a pause in the implementation of APR [Agricultural property relief ] to allow for proper consultation.”
The NFU has called for the Government to backtrack on plans to make farms worth more than £1 million liable to pay a 20% inheritance tax from April 2026.
They warn the taxes will lead to the break up of family farms and say older farmers will not have time to change their plans to avoid taking the hit.
Support from Asda, the U.K.’s third largest supermarket, comes after Morrisons said it backed farmers in their efforts to secure changes to the policy.
Simon Orson, the Chairman of Midlands Farmers, who organised the supermarket campaign, celebrated the supermarket giant’s response on Friday. …
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, the Director of External Affairs at the Countryside Alliance, said: “The Treasury has seriously misjudged the mood of the wider British public on this issue and it is vital it engages with the rural sector to find a positive way forward out of the mess before it’s too late.”
Mr. Orson and the farmers he led were largely greeted with support from members of the public as they visited supermarket chains on Friday.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
What do Tesco & Sainsbury’s say? Bravo Asda and Morrisons – reading the runes correctly… Sstarmer is f#£@king toast.
I bloody well hope Kneel is toast.
And Waitrose who can be oh so holier than thou a lot of the time.
Crafty Asda and Morrisons seeking to defuse potential distribution centre-blockades.
A few muckspreaders down Whitehall would up the ante.
They need to send them to the BBC!
The problem with this policy, nominally being pushed by Kneel and Thieves is that he has promised all the farm land to the likes of Billy and Larry so he’s not in a position to back down.
Zelensky promised much of Ukraine to that motley crue.
I wonder how much ASDA paid farmers for all that veg they were selling at 8p pre-Xmas?
ASDA were selling veg at 8p (per what?): perhaps it was a loss-leader.
Or perhaps there was an oversupply so prices – that important market mechanism associated with supply and demand which is a complete mystery to most of the population – reflected this, and farmers got what the market dictated – and half a sixpence is better than no sixpence.
I know this will come as a real shock to many, but it is consumers who determine selling prices, and consumers also determine which products/businesses are successful, and consumers determine how many are employed and what is sold in an economy. (This assumes Government hasn’t got its beak and sticky fingers in the market.)
I hope it was a loss leader, but farmer-supermarket relations in this country have a very mixed history, to say the least. While it may be welcome that big supermarkets come out against this tax measure, perhaps the supermarkets have decided this is a ‘popular’ stance they can take at no cost to themselves.
Although I welcome any support for the farmers, I was thinking exactly the same thing. And more difficult for supermarkets to negotiate low prices with super farms than small farms? Too cynical? Overthinking maybe?