The family farm tax will harm rural culture, the economy and conservation

In the last 10 days, the anger of the countryside towards Rachel Reeves’ budget has been plain to hear and see in the media, online and in conversation. It will impact rural working people to their detriment, and it endangers our food security.

One element of impact that has been less closely looked at is the effect of the budget on game shooting, which is an integral element of the rural economy, community and conservation. Many involved in shooting will instantly recognise the characteristics of the farm shoot or family shoot. These are small affairs that host a comparatively small number of days’ shooting each year, often for family and friends. They might be solely funded by the farmer, or they might let a few days to help fund the shoot. These are now at risk.

The most recent figures are that shooting contributes £3.3 billion to the UK economy. Part of that contribution is the payment of full or part time gamekeepers, the payment of beaters, the purchase of feed, game cover and other equipment. If these smaller shoots, of which there are many (probably thousands), are broken up and cease to operate because of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s new family farm tax and twin cab pickup tax hike, some rural working people will lose either jobs or a source or supplementary income.

The fiscal damage to the countryside is just the start. Many rural communities have family farm shoots in their hearts. They get people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds out and into the fresh air. It gives them a sense of identity and belonging, as well as a source of physical and mental wellbeing. To put these shoots at risk would be a crying shame for these communities which are already disadvantaged in many other ways, such as paucity of NHS doctors and dentists, and poor connectivity. The injurious tendrils of this budget will reach a long way into many rural people’s lives, not just the farmers’.

Another group who will suffer from this budget are the threatened species of wildlife in this country. Game shooting contributes conservation work of £500 million each year. This is privately funded work, equivalent to 26,000 full-time jobs and is put at risk by this budget. The habitat creation and maintenance that shooting brings to the countryside is part of the reason that 7.6 million hectares of our treasured countryside look the way they do today, and I’d wager it’s mostly the prettier bits. When family farms and their shoots are broken up, directly because of this government’s family farm tax, and the land is bought up by individuals or conglomerates that care little or nothing for well-cared for hedgerows, copses and spinneys that punctuate our countryside, there is little doubt that these will begin to disappear. Much of the vital predator control carried out by keepers will also cease, and that will sound a death knell for many of our rarest and most treasured species like the ground-nesting curlew and lapwing, which science has shown benefit hugely from such measures.

The Labour Party, in its pre-election manifesto, pledged to “promote biodiversity and protect our landscapes and wildlife”. The opposite of that is being executed now that they form His Majesty’s government. The new family farm tax will contribute to the decline of the family farm shoot, a keystone in our countryside, a stalwart for wildlife conservation, and a bastion for biodiversity.

The budget has dealt a devastating blow to many family farms and the Countryside Alliance is giving you the opportunity to support the hundreds of farmers who are lobbying their MPs directly. Take action today at the click of a button.