By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2024-12-29 18:10:21 | Updated at 2025-01-01 17:50:17
2 days ago
Farmer Clive Bailye has told GB News that he may be forced to sell off parts or his whole farm as a result of Labour's inheritance tax raid on the agricultural industry.
In a fresh blow to Labour amid the ongoing tax row with the farmers, a new survey by Public First has revealed just one in five voters believe Labour cares about people who live and work in the countryside.
James Frayne, a partner at Public First, said: "Labour's ratings with all voters are very poor at the moment, but with rural voters they are catastrophic."
Speaking to Nana Akua on GB News, farmer Clive Bailye and his young son Henry claimed that farming is already "broken", and the latest move by the Government will be the "straw that breaks the camel's back".
Farmer Clive Bailye has revealed he may be forced to sell off parts or his whole farm as a result of the tax raid
GB News / PA
Discussing how the tax raid will affect his own farm, Bailye explained: "Of course it affects us, it affects thousands. It affects us personally, dramatically.
"The inheritance tax bill when my father passes away, to pay that, we'll have to probably sell the farm, certainly a proportion of it, which is not something I want to do. And that takes away the opportunity for future generations like Henry here to continue farming like my father did, and my grandfather before him."
When asked by host Nana Akua about how his future will be changed due to the changes, Clive's son Henry told GB News that it is his "dream" to inherit the farm, but now may not be able to do so.
He revealed: "It's always been a dream of mine to inherit my dad's farm when I'm older, and it's one of my favourite things to do, just help working around the farm."
Detailing how the assets of a farm are dealt with in their produce and not "in pound notes", Bailye stated that although farming is a "brilliant lifestyle" and nobody "does it for the money", their futures are now at risk because of the tax raid.
He told GB News: "I think most farmers agree with me, we don't do it for the money, clearly, because those returns are so small. What's happened in the Budget is like the straw that broke the camel's back for a lot of farmers.
"We've got a situation where it's been a race to the bottom from the big retailers, supermarkets over most of my farming career, which has put cheap food on people's plates, but that's come at the cost of farmers.
"It's squeezed our margins down and down and down to the point where they're now basically non-existent. So there's nothing left to give anymore."
Recalling conversations he has had with his father and accountants about how they can financially manage the tax bills, Bailye claimed that he has "never seen his father so upset" about their farm.
Henry Bailye told GB News that it is his 'dream' to inherit his father's farm in the future
GB News
Bailye concluded: "We've sat down in recent weeks since the budget with our accountants, and I've sat with my 78-year-old father, who I've never seen him quite so upset about things.
"You reach a point where there's just nothing left. You put this tax on and it really is that point where you go, okay, I'm prepared to not do it for a huge return or income."
He added: "It's that vocation, that lifestyle that I've enjoyed, my father enjoyed, my grandfather enjoyed - my children will get that opportunity as well. You take that away, there's no point anymore. Why do we carry on? We just sell."
