The Labor government is reportedly drawing up contingency plans to tackle food shortages if farmers go on strike over Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ farm tax raid.
Britain has been warned it could face its first-ever national farming strike over the tax. Welsh pressure group Enough is Enough called on “those who are able” to begin a week-long strike with the aim of preventing produce from leaving their farms.
And thousands of farmers are expected to protest in London on Tuesday. They claim the plans will destroy family farms across the country.
Now Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will draw up its contingency plans to ensure food security in winter and summer.
Speaking on Sky’s Sunday Morning show, Haigh said: “Defra will be drawing up plans for summer and winter – and contingency plans, and ensuring food security is treated as the priority it deserves.”
Tom Bradshaw, chairman of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said he does not support withholding food as a way to protest the tax. He said: “I cannot tolerate for a moment if anyone stops stocking the supermarkets.
“We saw during the Covid During the crisis, those who could not get their food were often either the most vulnerable, or those who worked long hours in hospitals (such as nurses).
“That’s something we don’t want to see again, but this is under the government’s control, they can sit down, they can talk to us and work their way through this.”
“That is not an NFU tactic – we are not in favor of emptying supermarket shelves – but I completely understand the strength of feeling among farmers.
‘They feel helpless today and are trying to think of what they can do to show what this means to them. So I understand their feelings, but we do not support that action.”
Meanwhile, a rural champion has warned that Labor faces disaster at the ballot box if it loses support by forcing farming families to pay inheritance tax.
Baroness Mallalieu said the government had “sacrificed goodwill”. She wants ministers to reconsider their decision to impose a 20% inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million from April 2026.
Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “Food security is national security. Labour’s family farm tax is both heartless and illogical.”