Family farms in Wales are “on the brink” because of the various challenges they are facing, says David Chadwick.
The Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP was speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on proposed changes to agricultural property relief.
Video from parliamentlive.tv
The Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP was speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on proposed changes to agricultural property relief.
Video from parliamentlive.tv
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00:00speakers. David Chadwick on behalf of the Lib Dems. Thank you Chair, it's a pleasure to serve under
00:06your chairmanship and I'd like to thank the Honourable Member for Caerfyrddin for securing
00:11this important debate and to applaud the work she is doing cross-party to ensure Welsh farmers
00:16have a strong voice in this place. We also heard contributions from the Member for Tiverton and
00:24Minehead who pointed out the holes in this proposed change to policy and I welcome the
00:28contribution from the Honourable Member for the Shetland and Orkney Islands whose voice I know is
00:33so valued by the agricultural community across these isles. He pointed out that there's still
00:39plenty of time for the Government to engage properly with the sector and it's in the public
00:43interest to preserve these farms. Last weekend a group of farmers came to see me in Llandrindod,
00:49Wales to show me their accounts. What they wanted to show me wasn't how much money they're making
00:54but how little they are making. And their statistics were corroborated by figures released
01:01by this month by the Welsh Government showing that farming incomes have fallen by a staggering 34%
01:08across Wales in the last year with an average income now sitting at just £22,000. These
01:15figures are perhaps not surprising when you look at what farmers have had to cope with recently.
01:21Rising energy costs, runaway fertiliser inflation, supermarkets forcing unfair prices on producers,
01:27the transition away from the EU customs union, disastrous conservative trade deals with Australia
01:32and New Zealand, extra regulations from the Welsh Government. Those are just a few of the issues
01:37that they're coping with. Now add on to this the rise in national insurance and changes to APR and
01:43BPR announced in the autumn budget. Family farms are on the brink. Now the people working on our
01:49farms in Wales deserve a decent living. Farming is already a tough business but these figures and
01:57challenges highlight how unsustainable the situation is for many families. The Government's
02:04proposed changes to agricultural property relief make things worse by forcing farmers to either
02:11sell parts of their land or make repayments that will wipe out any annual profit they make.
02:16The Government is relying on outdated APR claim figures from 2021-22 and including non-commercial
02:22holdings in their calculations, downplaying the policy's impact. According to NFU Cymru,
02:28closer to 75% of farms in Wales will be affected, not the 27% claimed by this Government.
02:35If they are so confident in their numbers, why won't they release a full impact assessment
02:39including national breakdowns for Wales and Scotland? And when speaking to people in the
02:45sector, it is clear that they know what the impact will be. A further contraction in the rural
02:53economy. More young people will be forced to leave farming, placing our food security at risk,
02:59driving up food prices and damaging the wider rural economy. The process of rural depopulation
03:06will continue, making it harder for local councils to provide services.
03:10In Wales, this policy could have a calamitous impact on the Welsh language.
03:16Recently, a nine-year-old pupil at Llanelweth Primary School asked me on a school visit about
03:22the rising cost of fertiliser. I asked him if he was going to continue farming
03:27when he grew up. He looked me in the eye and said,
03:30I am a farmer already. Yet under these new policies, this young man may inherit a smaller
03:40farm with little profit and fewer opportunities. Farming is not a typical business, but it is
03:48an essential one. In Wales, we've already seen the decline of many industries due to political
03:54decisions. I fear that the proposed changes to APR could have the same devastating effect on
04:00farming. Who will farm the Welsh countryside? Will it be Welsh farming families who have worked
04:05the land for generations, or will it be the super-rich? It is reported that the Government
04:10plan to soften the blow for non-DOMs, but they seem unwilling to listen to the farmers who are
04:16the backbone of our rural economy. Our farmers are patriots, servants of the land. Who will feed us
04:23when they are gone? Surely now Government Ministers must look again at this policy.
04:29It is not just opposition parties and farming unions criticising the policy, but also the
04:34Office for Budget Responsibility, supermarkets and, even as of this weekend, the Welsh Labour
04:40First Minister. Rural Labour MPs need to stand with them and pressure the Government to reconsider.
04:49I applaud the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndyr for doing exactly that today.
04:55There are alternatives. Many in my constituency are already asking why Labour is targeting family
05:01farms, small businesses and charities for tax rises, while letting big banks, oil companies
05:06and tech giants off the hook. That is where the full troughs lie. APR is not a loophole.
05:14Purposefully, as has already been mentioned today, it was introduced to protect family farms
05:19and safeguard our food security. If the Government want to stop tax evasion,
05:24they must work with the farming sector to find a solution that does not punish struggling
05:30farmers, because Welsh farmland belongs in Welsh farming hands.