Disgruntled farmers in England and Wales have taken their complaints about the Budget’s effects on agriculture and horticulture to busy ports in a display of direct action.
Farmers from Kent and the South East staged a go-slow protest in their tractors around Dover on 28 November. More than 150 vehicles carrying signs including ‘No Farmers No Food No Future’ and ‘Back British Farmers’ entered the town from the A2.
The protest was organised by Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers, and Maidstone-based vegetable grower and wholesaler David Catt, said he was protesting in Dover because of tax measures announced in the Budget being the “final death knell” that will hit family farms that can least afford it.
Save British Farming founder Liz Webster added, “This Government has unleashed a really nasty culture war with their Budget. Are they hoping to motivate envy to back destruction (of) our farms which produce healthy and sustainable food and care for our countryside to sign a deal with Trump which delivers chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef?”
That night, Welsh farmers also blockaded Holyhead Port on Anglesey from between 10 pm and 4 am. NFU President Tom Bradshaw commented, “The NFU isn’t involved in this protest, but it’s an example of how angry and frustrated British farmers and growers are and we entirely understand why people feel the need to make their voices heard. Farmers from across the UK have made their feelings very clear by taking part in our mass lobby and the recent rally in Westminster to ask for change to this abhorrent family farm tax.”
Save British Farming has confirmed that it is organising consecutive tractor protests in each of the UK’s capital cities on 11 November.
