Reform UK spokesperson Ann Widdecombe has said Keir Starmer is painting a ‘false picture’ over the amount of money which could be raised from inheritance tax on family farms.
Speaking on GB News, Ann Widdecombe said:
“[Starmer] has treated the farmers disgracefully. His rather aggressive defence afterwards was even worse when he said, Well, look, do they want waiting lists to come down? Do they want proper defences? Do they want this and that thing? Well, they can’t have that unless we also have the inheritance tax grab.
“But actually that inheritance at scrap is estimated by the Institute of Fiscal Studies to raise something like £2.3 billion by 2029. That’s all. And that won’t do any of the things that he’s talked about, let alone all of them.
“We could have much more efficient immigration system. But even so, the claim doesn’t step up. He couldn’t do any one of those things with the money that he’s eventually going to get from this tax grab, let alone all of them. So it’s a completely false picture that he’s painting.
“And yes, of course, he could save the money. He could save it through equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives. He could save it through being less fanatical about Net Zero. He could do it by spending less on hotels on illegal immigrants, if he could only stop the boats and stop them coming in the first place, which he shows no sign of doing.
“So there’s plenty that he could be doing that would be the equivalent of the farmer’s inheritance tax. It’s unconscionable.
“We have made it extremely clear that we will reverse that particular measure.
“Rupert Lowe, who is our agriculture spokesperson, is, of course, a farmer himself so he knows what he’s talking about.”
