Director of External Affairs at Countryside Alliance Mo Metcalf-Fisher has told GB News that we must “stand in solidarity” with “people of the countryside”, as they launched a fresh demonstration against Labour’s inheritance tax raid.
Farmers gathered in protest outside the Farming Conference in Oxford, where agricultural workers lined their tractors outside of the venue and blared their horns.
As Defra Secretary Steve Reed delivered his speech at the conference this morning, Metcalf-Fisher declared that “generations of farmers” are “terrified” of what the future holds.
Metcalf-Fisher blasted the speech, noting his words are a “rehash” of previous remarks, calling for Labour to meet farmers “at the table” to discuss the tax raid.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher spoke to Will Hollis outside the protest in Oxford
GB News
Metcalf-Fisher told GB News reporter Will Hollis: “We need to stand in solidarity with the people of the countryside, our farmers.
“Steve Reed is in there talking at farmers – he needs to actually be listening to them.”
Hitting out at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Metcalf-Fisher fumed: “If the Treasury, Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Steve Reed had actually spoken to farmers before they announced the family farm tax in the Budget, this wouldn’t be happening right now.
“There wouldn’t be pain and anxiety spreading throughout the countryside, families who have had farms in their families for generations terrified about the future, terrified about what it means for our nation’s food security.”
Metcalf-Fisher praised GB News for being an ‘excellent ally’ to farmers following the Budget announcement
GB News
Criticising Reed’s speech, Metcalf-Fisher called for a meeting “at the table” between Government and farmers to discuss the tax changes.
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Metcalf-Fisher told GB News: “The speech, from what we’ve heard, it’s just a kind of rehash of things he said already, and it looks like it was kind of re-edited on the way to the conference today.
“But going forward, if Labour want to avoid this because, believe you me, there’s a lot more to come, this is tiny compared to what’s going to be happening – they need to get us all around the table and find a way forward, because at the moment this issue is going to dog them.”
Praising GB News for their support for farmers, Metcalf-Fisher highlighted how the People’s Channel has been an “excellent ally” in highlighting the issue of the tax raid.
Metcalf-Fisher told Will: “GB New has been an ally to to farmers since the Budget, and they would know that this is going to impact a huge number of ordinary farmers.
Tractor horns drowned out Reed’s speech at the conference
GB News
“Now, Steve Reed is going around telling people, at the behest I assume of Rachel Reeves that the only people that are going to be impacted are those big landowners – well, that’s just not true.”
Discussing Labour’s next steps with British farmers, Metcalf-Fisher stressed that although farmers are “not demanding a u-turn”, they are urging the Government to “rethink” the tax changes.
Metcalf-Fisher told GB News: “We’re not asking for a U-turn here, a lot of farmers here are demanding a rethink. So that means working out a way forward that keeps this lot safe.
“They can do that by talking to us. They’re not going to get anywhere by dragging their heels and telling us all that they’ve got it right, we’ve got it wrong. They’ve got it wrong.”
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