Farmers took there tractors to the road in a go slow drive in Shrewsbury, over concerns about changes made by Labour that will effect them.
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00:00So we're here in Shrewsbury at the Livestock Auction Centre and there's
00:04quite a few tractors gathering. Alan you're a farmer? Yes I'm a fourth
00:07generation tenant farmer from South Shropshire North Heritage border. We're
00:12here today mainly because of the change to the government budget which is not
00:16only taking money out of the pensioners pockets but making farming near
00:20impossible. It's not just about the tax increases to farm allowance it's the
00:24small business tax rises which will hit every business in the country.
00:29Because we keep hearing about all this inheritance tax so but this is, so
00:34there's other taxes as well that are affecting you? Yes they're putting in
00:38small business taxes as well as greening taxes which means we've got to
00:41pay extra tax on fertiliser to reduce the food as well as hidden taxes on our
00:45food through food standards that we have to meet and no foreign imports does.
00:50Which is pricing the British farm out of the markets compared to imported cheap
00:54food. With no food standards checks against them. So what's the plan today
00:59then? So as I say there's quite a few, how many tractors have we got here at the
01:02minute roughly? We've got 40 tractors already and we're expecting 50 plus with
01:06another 40 minutes of us to gather before we start at 11 o'clock. So it's a
01:11go slow protest yeah? It's a go slow charity protest and tractor run. We're
01:15collecting for Rabbi for mental health and farmers in need through the
01:19struggles that being faced by this budget. We're leaving here at 11 and we're
01:23circling on the A5 bypass around one o'clock. And you're you're taking up one
01:28lane so it's kind of a protest but you know you are thinking as well about
01:32motorists on that jewel bit. We don't want to inconvenience the public we're
01:36doing this to demonstrate the problems in the farming industry in the country
01:40as a whole. So we're not just doing this for us we want the abolishment of
01:43inheritance tax for all, not just farmers. We want the reinstation of heating
01:48allowance for the public and we want fair prices for farmers produce and to
01:52the consumers as the supermarket and the government are profiteering massively
01:56off us and taking the mick out the public of overpriced food. Yeah and I
02:01guess you just get to a point where you feel you need that voice to be heard
02:04don't you really? You need to take some sort of action. Well the government's own
02:08statistics states that 25% of farmers are making a loss on farm businesses and
02:1350% are only breaking even. So only 25% of us are making a living. Myself I have
02:18to run two diversifications to break even aside from farming which is just
02:22wrong. Yeah and we were here yesterday the Shropshire Star at the Livestock
02:26Auction said it was the Christmas cracker event and I was chatting to a lady
02:29there and she was telling me that the farming community, the farming industry
02:34it's one of the highest industries for suicide and so on which just really
02:37highlights the stress that you guys are under. We're under massive pressure when
02:41the government states that the average farmer only makes 2% profit off a
02:45turnover. That means that every £100,000 we've got invested in machinery and
02:50livestock we make £2,000 profit. It's just no longer sustainable and with the
02:54subsidies being taken off us in exchange for cheaply producing food the
02:59government is now literally slitting our throats. I've lost enough hair already trying to get
03:04disorganised and worried about people turning up but it's nice to see so many
03:08fellow farmers here to support the cause. I'm not sure why you're here but I'm
03:15here because I'm worried about the future of our industry. If things keep going the
03:19way they are the small margins we're making are going to be squeezed even
03:24more by the new green taxes, the policies and the inheritance tax, the small
03:30business tax which is going to affect not just us but all the people in this
03:34country. I think we are privileged in the fact that we've got the machinery to make
03:40our voices heard where the general public can't and I think we really need
03:45to make a stand here to show just how tight things are getting because my
03:50personal fear is it's illegal to encourage suicide yet we have got really
03:56high rates in our industry due to the massive pressures to produce food for a
04:01nation which doesn't seem to appreciate it.