Fury as farmers told inheritance tax raid will ‘fund mental health hubs'
Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, told a cross-party committee of MPs that money raised from the death duties will go to several NHS initiatives.
Opposition MPs told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) hearing that they were 'staggered' by the decision, as they claimed that the Government's own policy has fuelled a mental health crisis among farmers.
Charities have reported a spike in calls from distressed farmers. In November, John Charlesworth, 78, took his own life after his family said he had been 'eaten away' by fear of the tax raid.
Farms worth more than £1m will be saddled with a 20pc inheritance tax bill from next April as part of a controversial plan that could threaten food security and end the tradition of family farms.
Labour hopes the new taxes will raise £500m a year by 2029.
Mr Reed said: 'That money is helping to fund the NHS and the improvements we need in mental health support and the mental health hubs that will be placed in every community'.
'There are particularly high levels of mental ill-health in rural communities,' he said.
'Those who say they don't want to raise revenue to fund these benefits need to tell us which benefits they would cut as a result of changing it.'
The revelation comes two months after ministers quietly shelved a £10m mental health support fund for farmers. Labour resisted calls to extend the Farming Resilience Fund before confirming its planned closure on March 31.
Thousands of farmers have participated in numerous protests since Labour – which did not detail its plans to change agricultural property relief in its manifesto – announced the death duties tax raid.
The National Farmers Union has warned that two thirds of farms will be hit by the tax, compared to government estimates that just 27pc would be forced to pay.
Sarah Bool, South Northamptonshire Conservative MP, told Tuesday's hearing that farmers are struggling with their mental health as a result.
Addressing Mr Reed, she said: 'I'm staggered by what you've said because the mental health strain is unbearable.
'I've heard farmers telling me about family members planning things they shouldn't be doing to get away from this.
'I am really upset to hear you say it like that because you are saying this money will help mental health.'
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, told Mr Reed that 'farmers around the country will be hearing your words and shouting at their TV screens saying we already pay our taxes'.
Farming charity Yellow Wellies recorded a 55pc leap in demand for counselling services and a 13pc increase in calls to its crisis support centre last year.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs was approached for comment.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hundreds of sick children from Gaza to be evacuated to UK for critical NHS treatment
Hundreds of seriously ill children from Gaza will be evacuated to the UK for treatment by the NHS, as part of a new plan due to be announced within weeks, according to a report. Up to 300 young people will enter the UK for free medical care, a scheme which will run in parallel with another similar operation run by the Project Pure Hope group, a senior Whitehall source told The Times. Since the war began in October 2023, only three children from Gaza have been issued medical visas for the UK, under the Project Pure Hope scheme, which is funded entirely by private donations. The news comes amid a starvation crisis in the ravaged Gaza Strip, where partial and complete Israeli blockades on aid have been behind more than 160 malnutrition-related deaths, including 92 children, health authorities in Gaza say. Ted Chaiban, Unicef's deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, said on Friday that more than 320,000 young children are at risk of acute malnutrition, after a recent trip to Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The malnutrition indicator in Gaza has 'exceeded the famine threshold', Mr Chaiban said in a statement. Last month, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer promised to evacuate badly injured children. He wrote in The Mirror: 'I know the British people are sickened by what is happening. The images of starvation and desperation in Gaza are utterly horrifying. 'We are urgently accelerating efforts to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance – bringing more Palestinian children to the UK for specialist medical treatment.' More than 100 MPs have signed a letter calling for the government to fast-track the scheme, The Times reports. Labour backbench MP Stella Creasy said: 'The commitment we all share to help these children remains absolute and urgent – with every day, more are harmed or die, making the need to overcome any barriers to increasing the support we give them imperative. 'We stand ready to support whatever it takes to make this happen and ask for your urgent response.' Israel denies there is widespread starvation and says that where there is significant hunger in the Strip, it is a result of the theft of aid by Palestinian militant group Hamas and of failure by the UN to successfully deliver aid. But Unrwa, which was once the largest provider of humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza, says it has been entirely sidelined. Commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday that the group has 6,000 trucks loaded with aid stuck waiting outside Gaza for Israel to give it the green light to enter. Earlier on Saturday, witnesses and medics said Israeli forces killed 10 people after opening fire near two aid distribution sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as crowds of hungry Palestinians sought food. The violence came a day after US officials visited a GHF site and the US ambassador called the troubled system "an incredible feat'. The GHF denies accusations by UN officials that the killings are partly a result of its aid distribution practices, and says no Palestinians have been killed on its sites. Another 19 people were shot dead as they crowded near the Zikim crossing from Israel in the hope of obtaining aid, said Fares Awad, head of the Gaza health ministry's ambulance and emergency service. Hamas said on Saturday it will carry on fighting until an independent Palestinian state is established in a fresh rebuke to a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza. The militants said Hamas would not stop 'armed resistance' until an 'independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital" is recognised. Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas a key condition for any deal to end the conflict, but Hamas has repeatedly said it is not willing to lay down its weapons.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
NHS maintained 93% of planned care during resident doctors' strikes
The NHS maintained care for an estimated 10,000 more patients during the latest doctors' strike compared with last year's industrial action. Early data shows that 93% of planned operations, tests and procedures went ahead during the five-day walkout across England. In previous walkouts, the majority of non-urgent care was postponed. Fewer than a third of resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, chose to join the strike, which ended on Wednesday morning. The number was down by 7.5% (1,243) on the previous round of industrial action in July last year, according to the early analysis of management information collected by NHS England. NHS chief executive Sir James Mackey noted that care was still disrupted for thousands of people. He said: 'While this is really good news for the vast majority of patients whose treatment went ahead, we should still acknowledge that there were thousands whose care was disrupted. 'NHS staff will continue to work hard to ensure patients can get their rescheduled care as soon as possible, but for those patients – and for all our staff who had to work extra shifts or with different responsibilities – a repeat of this action will be unacceptable. 'So, I would urge the Resident Doctors Committee to get back to the negotiating table and work with us and the Government on the meaningful improvements we can make to resident doctors' working lives.' Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: 'I want to again thank staff from across the NHS who have put in an incredible shift to make sure that the NHS was open to as many patients as possible over the five days of unnecessary strike action.' Mr Streeting said earlier this week that he 'never left' the negotiating table, and that he is willing to meet with the resident doctors committee of the British Medical Association (BMA) to resume talks in their ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions. But he also warned that 'it should be clear to the BMA by now that it will lose a war with this Government'. NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said the walkout took a toll and that trusts are concerned about potential wider industrial action in the health service. 'Even though trusts cancelled fewer appointments than before, the strike still took its toll on patients and an already stretched NHS,' Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers deputy chief executive, said. She said NHS trust leaders want to focus on improving services instead of dealing with strikes, which she said have set back progress in cutting waiting lists. She added: 'This dispute can't drag on. The union says resident doctors want this to be their last strike. With talks due to resume, let's hope so. Bringing disruptive strikes – where the only people being punished are patients – to an end must be a priority. 'We're concerned, as trusts worked hard to minimise disruption and to keep patients safe during the resident doctors' strike, by the threat of wider industrial action in the NHS.'
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Countries under pressure to finalise UN plastic pollution treaty as talks resume
Negotiators looking to secure the world's first treaty to combat plastic pollution are under pressure to secure an ambitious deal this week after previous talks ended without consensus. Countries will gather in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday for another attempt to reach a legally binding international agreement on plastics. The 10-day conference has been organised after negotiators failed to adopt a treaty in November during what was meant to be the final round of talks in South Korea. Since negotiations began in 2022, countries have struggled to resolve some key issues, resulting in a deadlock that has stalled global efforts to tackle the pollution crisis. Going into Geneva, the rift between countries persists, with some continuing to push for a less ambitious deal that solely focuses on reducing plastic waste while others want a treaty that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics, including limiting production. The UK has been part of a 'high ambition coalition' of countries which are calling for binding obligations on reducing production and consumption, sustainable product design, environmentally sound management of plastic waste and clean-up of pollution. Environment minister Emma Hardy, who will be attending the conference, said: 'Millions of tonnes of plastic flow into our ocean, rivers and lakes each year, washing up on our beaches and littering the seabed; threatening precious habitats and wildlife. 'We urgently need a bold and ambitious global agreement that will end plastic pollution by 2040. 'The UK is continuing to play a leading role in pushing for an effective treaty that ensures the sustainable consumption and production of plastics, tackles problematic plastic products, and paves the way to a circular economy.' The high ambition coalition includes more than 60 members, such as Canada, France, Germany, Chile, New Zealand and Rwanda. But Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Kazakhstan have questioned the most ambitious proposals for limiting production, arguing they are incompatible with the treaty's core agenda and could interfere with global trade. Environmental campaigners have said that progress on tackling pollution has been mired by both obstructions from petrostates as well as lobbying by plastics and petrochemical companies. Christina Dixon, ocean campaign leader for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), said: 'This is the make-or-break moment to determine whether countries are capable of coming together, overcoming the pressure to compromise on a weak agreement and stand firm on the level of ambition required. 'The biggest obstacles remain the fact that a small group of countries either don't want a treaty or don't want one that meaningfully addresses the problem of plastic pollution.' Rudy Schulkind, political campaigner with Greenpeace UK, called the treaty 'our best opportunity to turn off the tap on unnecessary plastic production'. 'Allowing fossil fuels lobbyists and their dirty tactics anywhere near the treaty negotiations is a recipe for disaster – their sole aim is to derail and sabotage the talks on behalf of their profit hungry paymasters,' he said. 'UN member states must stand firm for a strong Global Plastics Treaty.' Elsewhere, nearly 300 businesses, financial institutions and campaign groups, including Coca-Cola, Mars, Nestle, PepsiCo, SC Johnson, Unilever and Walmart signed an open letter to lead negotiators in June, calling for a robust plastic pollution treaty that includes strong obligations in phase-out, product design and a level playing field for international regulation. According to Our World in Data, plastic production has increased sharply over the last 70 years and has more than doubled in the last two decades. The world has gone from producing two million tonnes in 1950 to more than 450 million tonnes today, with its use for daily items such as home appliances and food packaging soaring. But just 9% of the world's plastic waste is recycled, while 43% is landfilled, 19% is burned and 22% is mismanaged – with the risk it ends up in the countryside, rivers, lakes and oceans, figures from the OECD show. Once in the environment, plastic waste can entangle, choke or be eaten by wildlife and livestock, clog up waterways and litter beaches, while bigger items break down into microplastics entering food chains. And producing plastic, primarily from fossil fuel oil, has a climate impact, with the World in Data and OECD saying 3.3% of global emissions is down to the production and management of global plastics.
