Mr Reed said farmers had been sold a lie during Brexit talks that they would maintain access to European markets, but that Sir Keir Starmer’s ongoing reset of post-Brexit relations with Brussels would help address the dropoff, which has seen exports to Europe have fallen by a fifth since 2018.
And, during a brutal Q&A following the speech, Mr Reed was told Labour has taken “an a** about face way of doing tax policy” and seeing vulnerable elderly farmers as “collateral damage”.
Farmers have accused the government of “promising the world and giving us nothing” as the environment secretary faced another barrage of criticism over Labour’s inheritance tax raid on family farms.
The government’s tax change means previously exempt farms will be hit with a 20 per cent levy on farming assets worth more than £1m, with critics claiming it will force family farmers to sell up and rip the heart out of Britain’s countryside.
“Unless they die before April 2026 [when the changes take effect], their families will face a family farm tax bill they simply cannot afford to pay,” Mr Bradshaw told a hall of more than 600 gathered farmers.
