Budget: Implications for Farming Communities Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateRoger Gale
Main Page: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)Department Debates - View all Roger Gale's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(1 day, 20 hours ago)
Commons ChamberI find it hard to respond to a question like that. I spoke earlier about using language carefully, and I would just reiterate that point.
In the rural England that I am privileged to represent part of, they say that you should live as if you are going to die tomorrow and farm as if you are going to live forever. Do the Government not understand that if we inheritance-tax our farms out of existence, there will be no forever, and there will be no food from what was once the garden of England?
The right hon. Gentleman is very knowledgeable about these issues. I just gently ask him to look closely at the detail and the figures, which show that the numbers are low. I do not recognise his characterisation of the future.