Labour's farm tax will make President Putin and President Xi stronger

Labour's betrayal of our farming communities should not come as a surprise. We knew they didn't care about our rural communities when their manifesto contained just 87 references to farming. True to form, Slippery Starmer and his trusty sidekick Robotic Reeves have broken a huge election promise and have launched an assault on centuries of agricultural heritage and punishing those that put food on our tables.

Farmers are reeling at what represents a fundamental attack on their livelihoods. By imposing a cruel death tax on farmers by reforming Agricultural Property Relief (APR), the Chancellor's family farm tax will mean thousands of farmers will be forced to sell their land rather than pass it on to the next generation.

This is about Ed Miliband and Angela Rayner getting their way and now our heroic farmers will have to sell their land just to pay the tax bill while Labour concrete over our precious greenbelt.

It also means there will be fewer farmers working the land and putting food on our table. Express readers know how dangerous this is. It will put enormous pressure on our food security and push up the price of food on the shelves.

The war in Ukraine has underlined the importance of food security. We saw the price of food in the supermarkets rise after Putin's invasion which put added pressures on those on the lowest incomes. Let me be clear, this disastrous policy makes Britain weaker and makes Putin and Xi Jin Ping stronger.

The Chancellor argues that these crippling tax raids were necessary to fund our public services, but how can she not class farmers as public servants?

We know many farms are nearing breaking point. Margins have tightened, inflation has soared and extreme weather has already forced farmers to tighten their belts. The Budget may well lead to the end of the family farm altogether.

This shocking betrayal of our farmers is a mission that Labour do not understand rural communities and their role in our society.

Farming is not the preserve of the landed classes like Labour might think it is. Our farmers often operate on margins of just 1 or 2 per cent and have no way of footing the bill for this Government's reckless spending spree. What Rachel Reeves has failed to understand is that farmers just don't have huge amounts of cash to pay the taxman. Many are just surviving.

This Government has shown it is cruel and callous; more than willing to sacrifice pensioners or farmers to appease its trade union paymasters' Marxist vision for Britain. They have demonstrated that they do not understand, or worse, appreciate rural communities.

Labour do not realise that farming is a way of life that drives our economy, protects the food on our table and brings local communities together. This sickening war on our farmers and rural communities is a harrowing example of things to come in Starmer's socialist Britain.

Saqib Bhatti is MP for Meriden and Solihull East