Jeremy Clarkson accuses Labour of ‘ethnically cleansing’ the countryside and wanting to build ‘new immigrant towns’ over farmland_Nhy
Jeremy Clarkson has accused Labour of wanting to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the countryside in order to build ‘new immigrant towns’ over farmland.
The former Top Gear presenter, 64, made the accusation in a furious no-holds-barred rant at Rachel Reeves over the Chancellor’s inheritance tax raid.
Clarkson says the Budget makes farming ‘nigh on impossible’ and believes it’s part of a ‘sinister plan’ to ‘carpet bomb our farmland’.
The Clarkson’s Farm star has vowed he will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers when they take to the streets of London on November 19 for a ‘we only want to feed you’ protest march.
Under plans announced in last week’s Budget, inheritance tax will be charged at 20 per cent on agricultural assets above £1million – although Ms Reeves has said that in some cases the threshold could in practice be about £3million.
Jeremy Clarkson has accused Labour of wanting to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the countryside in order to build ‘new immigrant towns’ over farmland
The former Top Gear presenter, 64, made the accusation in a furious no-holds-barred rant at Rachel Reeves (pictured) over the Chancellor’s inheritance tax raid
While the 20 per cent figure still represents a relief of 50 per cent compared to the standard rate, farming unions and opposition parties have criticised the move.
Farmers could end up paying thousands of pounds more in car tax after a loophole that benefits pick-up truck drivers was closed in the Budget.
Vehicles such as the Ford Ranger and Nissan Navara will be classed as cars rather than vans from next April when the benefit-in-kind tax break for commercial vehicles ends.
Clarkson fumed Ms Reeves had used a ‘machine gun’ to hit ‘all the traditional family farmers’ that would result in the next generation being forced to sell farmland when their parents die.
Writing in The Sun, he said it will be ok for the Labour Party as they will be ‘living on a diet of quinoa’, as he added: ‘I’m becoming more and more convinced that Starmer and Reeves have a sinister plan.
‘They want to carpet bomb our farmland with new towns for immigrants and net zero windfarms.
‘But before they can do that, they have to ethnically cleanse the countryside of farmers.’
It comes on the back of comments from Clarkson in The Times earlier this week in which he accused Labour of trying to ‘nationalise the countryside’.
Clarkson questioned whether fathers will be able to pass on the trading secrets of farming to their children because they may be forced to sell up.
Clarkson (pictured on a tractor at Diddly Squat Farm) questioned whether fathers will be able to pass on the trading secrets of farming to their children because they may be forced to sell up
Clarkson pictured at the the Cornbury House Horse Trials in Oxfordshire on September 15, 2024
In the last five years Clarkson said agricultural land has become ‘the must-have accessory for people in suits’ causing prices to skyrocket. In his local area, he explained, some people have paid £15million for a 500-acre farm.
He accused the Labour party of going after ‘land owned by dukes and hedge-fund managers’ but said ‘Britain’s farmers seem to have been caught in the crossfire’.
And in doing so, Clarkson believes Ms Reeves looks to have ‘killed farming’.
Ms Reeves has defended her proposed reforms to inheritance tax on farms by claiming it is not ‘affordable’ to keep the current system.
