Labour ‘set to shun commerce take care of Trump in bid to placate livid farmers’
Fury in the farming community over Labour‘s ‘tractor tax’ has rendered a trade deal with Donald Trump‘s America unviable and will force the UK further into the arms of Brussels, government sources have said.
The uproar generated by the imposition of inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million would be dwarfed by the outrage if factory-farmed American products such as chlorinated chicken were allowed to drive higher-quality British goods off the shelves as part of a deal.
Sir Keir Starmer‘s Government will instead step up its push for a post-Brexit reset, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves planning to join a meeting of EU finance ministers this month to help to thrash out terms.
The EU has made clear what it will demand: freedom of movement in the UK for EU citizens aged under 30 and fewer border checks on animal, food and drink exports
Negotiators expect the UK to seek the removal of trade barriers in exchange for ‘dynamic alignment’ – Brussels jargon for being subject to EU red tape.
One pro-Brexit Westminster figure with knowledge of the early discussions said: ‘Starmer is planning to sell us out to Europe rather than do a deal with Trump.
We are turning down an alliance with the fastest-growing superpower in order to lock ourselves in to the failing European market.’ Any deal struck with Mr Trump is likely to be restricted to services, such as legal and financial expertise, they said.
A government source denied this characterisation, arguing that even Boris Johnson baulked at the ‘chlorinated chicken in the room’ and refused to ‘sell-out’ British farmers.
Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, during a news conference at Downing Street in London in August
Thousands of farmers take part in a protest outside Downing Street against changes to agricultural inheritance tax rules
Donald Trump speaks after being declared the winner during an election night watch party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida
Admitting that a deal could be ‘the final straw’ for farmers, the source said: ‘The past four Tory prime ministers all failed to sign one for the same reason – that we won’t compromise on food quality.
‘We want growth for the UK, and we want it through better relations with the US, the EU and all the other major economies. This is a time for grown-ups’.
Casting a shadow over the process is the prospect of a trade war with Mr Trump if he carries out his threat to hike import tariffs. Labour peer Peter Mandelson, who is in the running to become Sir Keir’s ambassador to Washington, set out his fears in a private meeting with diplomats last week.
Describing the prospect of a Trump trade war as ‘grim’, the former EU trade commissioner said: ‘We have to take action and we have to work out what that is and how effective it could be.
‘The idea that we should somehow sort of slide into some sort of intra-Alliance trade war, would be absolutely disastrous.’
PM’s new tractor tax battle
by Anna Mikhailova
Keir Starmer faces a fresh Labour rebellion when MPs vote on the inheritance tax hike on farmers this week.
On Wednesday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will use her first Opposition Day to force a vote on reversing the family farm tax.
While the result of the vote will not be binding, it is expected to place 114 Labour MPs who have rural seats under pressure and highlight divisions within the party over the plans to tax farms worth more than £1 million.
A Tory source said the number of Labour abstentions could be 60 – higher than the 52 who missed the winter fuel allowance vote.
Tory environment spokesman Victoria Atkins said Labour MPs ‘must listen to the anger and frustration that farmers are feeling’.
‘They have a choice. Will they vote to axe the tax, and save the family farm? Or will they turn their backs on rural communities?’ she said.
