RURAL Scotland faces a twin threat – apathy from the Scottish Government, and active harm from the new Labour Government in Westminster.
That was the view of Dumfries and Galloway MP John Cooper who was speaking in a debate on rural affairs in Parliament.
He says that increased costs for business, including raised employer National Insurance contributions and changes to tax reliefs for family businesses and farms, will hit working people across Dumfries and Galloway.
And he told the Commons: ‘I spoke with one business whose expansion plans for his food business face a pause as he weighs the impact of increased employer National Insurance contributions.
“I spoke with a farmer whose best hope of avoiding the Chancellor’s predatory death taxes is for his parents to live a further seven years—they are both aged over 80.
“Rural Dumfries and Galloway does not want special treatment; it wants its fair share. It wants an acknowledgement that its way of life – with an emphasis on aspiration – is not wrong, though it does pose particular challenges.
“It wants a Government who appreciate that if someone in a town or city has £10 in their pocket, they will be able to do something with it – whereas in remote and rural Britain, that tenner probably will not get them to the farm-road end.”
Furthermore, he queried Government figures, which state only a small number of farms will be impacted by changes to tax relief.
‘The Treasury are at odds with other external bodies on this, and I am struck by the fact that the Environment Secretary Steve Reed has said farmers “Must learn to do more with less.”,” he said.
“That backs the position of farmers who say they are being adversely affected by this Budget.”
He added: “The House also debated the issue of mental health issues in the agricultural sector, mounting as poor weather, increased costs, lower yields and skimpy profit margins, bite. Add in the uncertainty now about being able to pass of a family farm without breaking it up to cover death taxes, and it’s a powder keg situation.”
