The government is “for the farmers”, the Prime Minister said, reiterating his position that the majority of farms will not be affected by changes to agricultural inheritance tax.

He was speaking after 13,000 farmers and supporters gathered in central London to protest against Budget measures which included the imposition of inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1million and accelerating the phasing out of European-era subsidies in favor of nature-friendly agricultural payments.

Sir Keir Starmer was told on BBC Radio Bristol, as part of a series of local radio interviews, that he was not for farmers or small business owners, nor “for keeping millions of retirees warm. he for.

He said: “We are for workers who need to be better off and who have really struggled in recent years.

“We are for everyone who wants and needs to rely on the NHS, which is on its knees, and we must and we will lift it up and reduce these waiting lists.

“We are for people who absolutely need a safe and secure place to live at a price they can afford.

“All this must be paid for.

“We are also for farmers and retirees.”

The Prime Minister also reiterated his position that the vast majority of farms will be “absolutely unaffected” by the changes to agricultural inheritance tax.

Sir Keir was told on BBC Radio Lincolnshire that family farms would be put out of business because of the Budget, and he responded: “I understand their concerns.”

He said: “Firstly, in the Budget we have allocated £5 billion over the next two years to agriculture, this is the largest amount of money spent on sustainable food production, it is extremely important for farmers, more money to deal with flooding, which is extremely important for farmers. always a problem and the appearance of diseases.

“When it comes to inheritance taxes, obviously what farmers want to do is of course make sure that the family farm is preserved.

“In a typical case, that is to say that the parents transmit it, first to each other, to the other spouse, on the death of one, then to a child, so it t is a typical case, the threshold before paying inheritance tax is £3 million.

He added: “But £3 million means the vast majority of farms are completely unaffected. The vast majority are completely unaffected.

“Because that £3 million threshold is a very high threshold. There are not many farms each year that are sold above this amount, and this threshold is therefore high. The vast majority of farmers will not be affected.

Asked on BBC Radio Bristol about the £3 million threshold and told that Chancellor Rachel Reeves had said the threshold was £1 million, he replied: “Well, there is an allocation for the farmland itself, which is £1 million. 1 million.

“Then there’s a spouse-to-spouse allowance in the event of death, and then there’s a final allowance, you know, from surviving parent to child.

“When you add it all up, those three things are most likely the case for a family farm. »

He added: “When you add those three things together. So that’s your classic, typical family farm, that’s the £3 million threshold.

He was told on BBC Radio Lincolnshire that installing pylons on farmland would not be good for the environment and would deprive farmland of its use for growing food.

Sir Keir said: “Yes, what we are trying to do here is get access to renewable energy as quickly as possible because it’s cheaper, it’s independent, which means (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can’t get his hands on our throats and prices are skyrocketing, massively affecting individuals, businesses and of course farms where they consume energy quite intensely, to some places.

“So we have to turn to this renewable energy. This means we will have to make difficult decisions on issues like pylons. »