Thread 11 Starmer: Will that Phone Call Be To Harris or to Trump? (the decidedly superior looking cats thread)

[BIossomtoes]

New thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5195566-thread-10-starmer-first-female-chancellor-delivers-the-budget?page=40&reply=139578573

As shadow DEFRA secretary a year ago he said there were no plans to change it, according to that article.
“When he was shadow DEFRA secretary, Mr Reed told two farmers' conferences a year ago Labour had no plans to change inheritance rules, including Agricultural Property Relief (APR), which gives them a 100% exemption.”
Thats a very long way from a promise pre election.

I don’t understand. Why did he say it then.

I’m astonished he said it. Most Labour shadow ministers, as they were then, were very careful not to say anything about finance.

Because a year ago they had no plans to do it? The manifesto wasn’t prepared then. They hadn’t looked at everything. They had no plans to do lots of things at that stage. And probably had plans to do things they now haven’t done (and didn’t in the end put in the manifesto). But in any case, he wasn’t in a position to make any promises in his role.

You are more charitable than I.

Farmers have got exactly what they told they were going to get when then and their cheerleaders tipped the Leave vote over 50%. They were repeated warned they would be shafted, told us all to fuck ourselves and now because Brexit has left us all poorer, they are whining about having to do their bit. And they still refuse to accept they are the authors of their own misfortune.

And even now, you can bet that if the Dysons and Clarksons of this world were not affected by the IHT changes, you wouldn't hear a word about it.

The Australia deal was exactly what people warning about leaving the EU predicted.

Ironically, I have a tad more sympathy for Clarkson than Dyson. At least he realised there was no upside to leaving the EU even though he seemed a bit of a sceptic. (The Margaret Thatcher view).

And probably had plans to do things they now haven’t done

Like the now unaffordable £28 million green spending promise.

To add to that @derxa, I get why it’s disappointing/enraging from the perspective of the genuine farms which will be hit by this. I have a lot of sympathy with how badly farmers are treated by big business in this country. I still think this is a measure which mostly hits those it was meant to, and those it hits who it’s bad news for can mitigate. It’s impossible to untangle people buying land for tax avoidance purposes and people buying land because it’s been their family business for generations.
This isn’t a betrayal of farmers. It isn’t a broken promise or, worse, a lie.
I do think something needs to be done about supermarket power though. Fair Trade isn’t just for Nicaraguan coffee producers.

When the facts change, I change my mind.

What do others do ?

So, who has snow?

We have rain

15cm in Brum.

Pissing down here.

Just rain and wind here - and very dull/overcast

Even the forecast sleet didn't materialise

This is worth a watch, it explains the IHT with regard to farmers well. Very factual

https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK/status/1858810194689462388

If the likes of Clarkson and Dyson weren't pushing up land prices buying up land as a tax dodge perhaps more farmers could afford to expand their businesses ad new entrants could get a toehold. My best friend is a farmer and it's not IHT that's worrying her, it's their landlord wanting to remove 1/3 of the land ( and the best land on their farm) from their tenancy for a solar farm. Both neighbours on either side of them are similarly affected. It will render all 3 farms unviable. Landlord does have lower grade, more suitable land, that could be used but the affected farms are on the edge of a village on an A road with easy access to the A1 and the suspicion is that if they are unviable tenancies then they can be developed.

Yes, Dan Neidle is right. That is a large exemption from IHT.

It decided not to bother too much with the NE. We got all of half an inch which is just enough to partially thaw then freeze solid on shady pavements. I should look for the grit to clear a path for Ds2's taxi.

IHT? Whilst i ve little sympathy for Farmers, i'm not quite sure this is a hill Labour should die on, R4 said it will raise £200m to £400m.. so little gain for huge political pain.

I'm still waiting to see what they will do about NHS dentistry & Social Care workers.

I think it's more SM outrage than political pain.

On space karen's x, people are posting protest images that clearly show German tractors and Leon himself is calling it going full Stalin

How insulting

What is?

What really bugs me is I bet a lot of the Twitter lot complaining about this have never done one thing in their lives to support farmers. Why haven't they been shouting about the supermarkets ripping farmers off?

Like Victoria Atkins here

https://bsky.app/profile/bestforbritain.bsky.social/post/3lbcg2nxx3s2y

Shad DEFRA Sec Victoria Atkins, rocks up in a fetching little jingoistic union jack-et to say Labour are city socialists who don't understand farmers.

Farmers say this is "the last straw" after lost Brexit subsidies, bad trade deals, and poor climate mitigation - all of it under Atkins' gov't

And some background information about the #together movement that Clarkson seems to be supporting on his placards

https://www.desmog.com/2024/05/24/together-declaration-science-denial-group-behind-surge-online-attacks-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-ltn/

A friend of mine who I thought was fairly reasonable (if more to the right than me) has posted an article about Stalin’s agricultural policy with just ‘Stalin hated farmers’ as the comment. managed not to tell her she was being a fucking idiot (or say anything at all) but she is making herself look a fucking idiot and I think less of her for it. As if it’s anything like Stalin. A few hundred farms will pay a bit of money over 10 years. Lots of tax dodgers will have their loophole closed.

As far as weather goes, it’s rained, then snowed, then rained again. Bloody cold and damp and miserable though.

As far as weather goes, it’s rained, then snowed, then rained again. Bloody cold and damp and miserable though

Same. I think we live in the same area of Wales!