This is another tragic step which Labour is takingLess than 24 hours after Labour’s budget, I found myself back on the family farm, leaning against a gate with my brother, looking out over a field filled with my father’s cattle.
My brother and his family were home for half term and my father had, quite rightly, timed some farm work to coincide with his two sons’ return.
The task? Castrating young bulls—an oddly fitting analogy for how many farmers felt after Labour’s budgetary betrayal.
Labour’s changes to Agricultural Property Relief hits farmers at a time when they're already stretched to breaking point.
Treasury officials may imagine that only those large land owners, who seek to circumvent paying tax by purchasing swathes of land, may feel the effects.
However, the stark reality of this policy change is very different – it is a tax on the family farm.
Samuel Kurtz surveying his father's cattle in Pembrokeshire
Samuel Kurtz
For many family-run businesses, already dealing with soaring costs and policy upheavals, this tax shift threatens their very survival.
Farms aren’t just assets—they’re legacies. And under the new tax rules, many will be forced to break up or sell, a blow that could unravel the agricultural backbone of our rural communities.
“Losing a farm is not like losing any other business,” said the then Leader of the Opposition, now Prime Minister, during his campaign. But one must wonder: did he really mean it?
Similarly, the new DEFRA Secretary, Steve Reed, stated confidently—while still only a Shadow —that Labour had “no intention of changing APR.” And again, we have to ask: was that just electioneering?
Even the Labour candidate-turned-MP in Pembrokeshire, my own home county, which is so deeply reliant on agriculture, stood in front of farmers during a husting, looked them in the eye and assured them that APR would not be touched.
Yet here we are, just months after the election, and the promises have crumbled as Labour has already reneged on their commitments.
Labour said whatever was necessary to win votes from hardworking farmers, yet their promises have turned out to be empty. It’s a deep betrayal of the agricultural communities that underpin our rural economy.
Growing up on a farm, I’ve seen firsthand my father’s hard work — out before dawn and home long after sunset.
Because of that, I don’t profess to ever claim that I am a farmer, but I wear the badge of “farmer’s son” with pride.
It was with that same pride that, earlier this year, I spoke at the ‘No Farmers No food’ protest outside the Welsh Parliament as thousands of farmers made their voices heard against Welsh Labour’s farming policies.
With this budget announcement, I fear that this earlier protest was merely a warm-up for the main event we’ll see on November 19th.
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Samuel Kurtz speaking outside the Senedd
Ruth Rees
