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

I wish people would read my posts. I don’t think this will affect the majority. But it is going to affect good people who are just trying to put food on your plate. Do you want food security or not? If I was a young farmer now I would just say ‘Fuck it!’

Badenoch finalises Tory frontbench appointments, with more than half MPs now shadow ministers or whips,

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/nov/20/farming-inheritance-tax-keir-starmer-angela-rayner-uk-politics-live?page=with:block-673dfe978f08bad5f6052e78#block-673dfe978f08bad5f6052e78

The key question is actually will they all wear Boden Union Flag jackets?

I want this; unity, patriotism, and a uniform. The visual impact alone would be tremendous. I was pretty upset Badenoch hadn’t followed Atkins example tbh

A personal whipping service dressed in Boden union flag jackets 😂

We've not had food security for over 150 years.

It didn't matter so much when we were in the EU...

You do me a great disservice @derxa

I wouldn't have commented if I hadn't read all of your posts.

I think there have been issues with farming, food production and manufacturing, and sales for decades.

Hence many farmers listening to the Brexit promises. There was existing tension.

The aim should be to make UK farming pay better for those actually farming. It should never have become a tax vehicle for the wealthy.

I don't know how those structural problems could be picked apart. The previous government certainly couldn't or wouldn't get a handle on it. And it couldn't compete as an issue against the desire for trade agreements at any cost. That won't be any better with Trump 2.0.

Labour will certainly not prioritise ithose issues yet - we've got public buildings falling down, prisons overflowing, 14.3 million children in relative poverty, NHS productivity issues etc etc.

So I have some sympathy. But rather than blocking Parliament Square and accepting the Reform/Tory wellie wearing cosplaying I think they should be pushing for raising the cap or introducing tapers. Aim for meaningful changes to the policy rather than a u-turn.

Just my uneducated thoughts on the issue. My grandad was the 9th boy - he was never considered for any part of his family farm!

I certainly don't want to see family farms going under but neither can I accept rich gits like Clarkson and Dyson buying up land just to avoid paying tax.

Would it not be better to exclude those farms who actually do produce food for the country? Not just a small field in the corner but some percentage of land that is used solely for food production.

Those who don't produce food, those who just buy land to make profit from it in whatever way that is, should then be charged iht.

@derxa can I just say thank you for continuing to engage with us on this. Clearly it's an emotive issue, and as the only person on the thread who thinks it's a bad call by Labour, you are getting a bit of a hard time. I appreciate you answering my questions earlier.

It's hard to find the opposite view sometimes from people willing to engage positively, so thank you.

Thanks. I’ve been posting all day. Forgive me if I have a rest tomorrow. 🤣

Derxa, we are poles apart politically, but you have given me a few things to think about. I can understand your strength of feeling.

Thanks so much

Late to the party but me too. Nice to find a number of people who feel the same.

...
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/why-the-rich-are-to-blame-for-ethnically-cleansing-the-countryside-of-farmers-385983/

I've asked thie before in posts about the farmers but I still don't understand why the big farms worth over 3m don't become businesses with various share holders? Why is it all owned by one person anyway? It seems an archaic and silly way to run. Pre 1984 and again when the law comes in it means instability each time a farmer dies.

No idea Zonder, maybe something about tradition, the family name?

That's all I could come up with @DuncinToffee

I can understand that - I said so in an earlier post. I understand the devastation over Brexit, and I guess that might explain some of the strong language (though Brexit affected every facet of every life, while this affects almost nobody).
Where does the dread come from?

Even if you were a young farmer it wouldn’t affect?
Since the vast majority aren’t affected, and those that are have options, I don’t think it’s a ‘fuck it’ situation.

Knowing how family businesses work, and family farms being at the sharp end of that, often with the head of the family refusing to put the farm in eldest son's name even though he's working his arse off....this might be a good thing as far as succession planning.

Family businesses have to do it even though there's business relief but.passing on shares in the family business to the children and living 7 years after, removes IHT liability totally.

Forward financial planning for eventual death is surely a good thing... I would imagine there are a few conversations going on around the farmhouse kitchen table....!

Interestingly I have a few farmers as friends and all but 1 are gen 3 of a 3 gen tenancy. All of them are more concerned about losing land to non agricultural development not IHT. The only 1 complaining about IHT has 1 child who has no interest in the farm and will sell on on inheritance. The only other local I have seen complaining is someone who has bought land to avoid tax and has a contractor farming it. That probably reflects my small circle of friends but they mostly have more immediate concerns than IHT. We are a largely arable area about 60 miles from London.

I appreciate @derxa ’s contributions too, thank you, so please continue on when you feel you can. She’s absolutely not a ‘hobby’ or ‘retirement’ farmer, but even if she was, so what?
I would like to see tweaks to the farm IHT plans, or an alternative land tax when land is sold out of the family, for working farms.

Just come up on my newsfeed that John Prescott has died.

Oh goodness RIP John P.

apple.news/AU73G7HpDQYqpTpHxN12LwQ