𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Chancellor John Healey and Prime Minister Andy Burnham must go further to help British farmers and tackle rampant food inflation in Wednesday’s Budget, campaigners have demanded. Senior MPs urged the Government’s top figures to help farmers tackle rising costs of energy and hiring, as well as to finally ditch the hated Family Farm Tax.

Mr Healey will deliver his first Budget as Chancellor on Wednesday, October 28, after Andy Burnham appointed him to replace Rachel Reeves in July. Industry leaders have warned that soaring costs, including rising energy prices, have hit farmers – and increased the cost of food at the checkout. On Tuesday, Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins piled on the pressure, taunting that “the left hand of this government doesn’t know what the far-left hand is doing”.

She added: “Two weeks ago, the Chancellor imposed a brand-new tax on fertiliser. This week, he announced a reduction in tariffs on fertiliser.

“This confused approach to the rocketing business costs faced by farmers and rural businesses helps to explain why families are finding their food shopping ever more expensive.”​

Her scorn comes as ministers announced a reduction in tariffs on foreign fertiliser in an attempt to bring down costs for farmers.

The Government hopes the move will slash the price of goods on the shelf and make the weekly food shop cheaper.

But Ms Atkins said farmers were being bled dry “by increased energy costs, higher labour costs, the ever-expanding sea of red-tape” and the death tax on their land.

Mr Healey is also expected to confirm a 3.9% rise in the national living wage alongside the Budget, taking it from £12.71 to around £13.20 an hour from April 2027.

The Daily Express has long campaigned to end the hated family farms tax, which saw British farms dragged into inheritance tax for the first time ever.

David Bean, of the Countryside Alliance, said: “A cut in fertiliser tariffs, hopefully leading to price reductions, is welcome given the strain that the whole food and farming sector is under.

“It makes no sense for the government to be adding to farmers’ costs deliberately.”

But he warned the tariff cut was just one fix for a sector being hammered on all sides.

Mr Bean said: “Fertiliser prices are, however, only one of a whole series of pressures being heaped on the sector, not least the costs of energy and fuel.”

The Countryside Alliance has put 10 policies to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget, hoping they will be added to Mr Healey’s red box.

They include making the 5p fuel duty cut permanent, a temporary VAT cut on fuel and cutting the non-domestic VAT rate on heating oil, which many off-grid rural homes and businesses rely on.

Mr Bean added: “We hope the government uses the Budget to reset their relationship with rural people.”

Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle insisted the Government was on farmers’ side.

She said: “Cutting fertiliser tariffs is a straightforward way to back British agriculture, strengthen supply chains and support the sector.”

She added: “This will help ease the pressure on farmers while opening up more choice and supporting food production here at home.”