Kintyre farmers fearing ‘agricultural clearances’ join Westminster protests

Mr Macalister, who said he received a “positive” response from Argyll and Bute’s MP Brendan O’Hara, said: “Our point is that this tax is unfair. We’re quite happy to pay tax as long as it’s affordable – nobody likes paying tax but as long as it’s not going to put us out of business, we will pay our share the same as everybody else in the country. 

“Most families pass land down to brothers, sons, daughters... but there’s a brother or sister they probably have to pay out, too, and that point seems to have been forgotten.”

There are concerns that some farming families may have to sell parts of their farmland to pay the new inheritance tax, but Mr Macalister is warning that even that is not straight forward.

“If people with a massive bill decide to sell something, there’s capital gains tax to pay before they pay inheritance tax, so it’s a double whammy,” he said.

“You’ve heard of the Highland Clearances – this will be the agricultural clearances, but across the whole of the UK.

“We’ll end up with corporate farms cherry-picking the best land, farming with big machines and they won’t care a jot about communities. In our part of the world, all we’ll end up with is trees.”

Mrs Jones, who took her son Charlie and some of his agricultural friends to the protest, described it as an “emotional” day.

From their farm in Bellochantuy, which Charlie hopes to eventually take over, the Jones family runs its successful Kintyre Eggs business.

“I’m from a farming family. My mother and grandmother were both farmers, mainly sheep,” said Mrs Jones. “As well as our hens, we also have sheep and, a couple of years ago, our daughter asked for her own flock for Christmas, so it seems to be in the blood.

“At this time of year, 60 years ago, my grandmother would be fattening hundreds of turkeys. The neighbouring women would all come together to help pluck them before delivering them to Smithfield Market in London. When I go to cities now, I find it remarkable that farms across the world, mainly small family farms, can still feed the growing urban populations.

“Many farming families are intergenerational and I don’t think the largely urban leaders of the Labour government understood the significance of how damaging their new budget could be to food production.  

“Unfortunately, the treasury hadn’t consulted either DEFRA [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] or the NFU and miscalculated the number of family farms that would be affected and the misinformation was further spread by some media channels after a mix-up between acres and hectares.

“I went to the rally in London in the hope the government would review its figures and consider whether the changes to APR/BPR will impact the non-agricultural investors, as intended, or actually impact the real farmers.”

She added: “It was an emotional day, hearing from families whose farms could be lost, some of which will be bought by companies to use as carbon offsetting, raising the concerns about food security.”

Many farmers, including Mrs Jones and Mr Macalister, brought produce to donate to the food charity City Harvest, with 6.6 tonnes, or enough for 15,400 meals, collected, highlighting the message of the day: “We just want to feed you”.

“We don’t quite know what’s going to happen next but I’d keep your freezer full,” said Mr Macalister, warning that there could be a risk of food strikes or blockades.

“Farmers are the backbone of rural communities,” he added. “We provide food but we’re doing so much more than that – we’re cleaning ditches, we’re custodians of the countryside, we’re taking part in carbon capture initiatives and much more that urban populations take for granted.”

A UK Government spokesperson said it understood the concerns about the tax changes but that “the majority of those claiming relief will not be affected by these changes”, adding: “This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while also fixing the public services we all rely on.”

Mr Macalister is one of several farmers from across Mid Argyll and Kintyre due to travel to Edinburgh yesterday (Thursday November 28) join a national rally at Holyrood in a bid to secure the financial future of the agriculture industry ahead of the Scottish budget being announced on December 4.

“In the past, money was ring-fenced by the Scottish Government for agriculture but that is no longer the case,” said Mr Macalister. “It’s part of the block grant and it’s up to Scottish Government how they want to spend it. 

“NFU Scotland has decided to be proactive, rather than reactive, and we want to promote what Scottish agriculture is doing for the population at large and the wider economy.”