Green shoots? Burnham cultivates rural links in attempt to ‘build back trust’ with farmers

As an arable farmer, Olly Harrison’s WhatsApp messages are normally concerned with the more mundane matters of working the land: logistics, supplies and the occasional chat about the weather.

So when a recent message came through from Andy Burnham, it was more than a little unexpected.

The personal touch wasn’t just the act of a politician on the campaign trail – Burnham was fighting the Makerfield byelection at the time – Harrison said it showed a change of approach to farmers.

“He’s trying to meet farmers, he wants to meet up,” said Harrison, who farms near Liverpool.

Under the Starmer administration farmers had been hit with new taxes, including a loathed inheritance tax. Harrison said the dialogue between the government and agricultural workers had been nonexistent.

And now? Burnham appears to have sown the seeds for a better relationship, telling farmers on a visit this summer that government had “long way to go to build back trust” with farmers and the UK needed to “guarantee our own food production”. Green shoots, perhaps.

Harrison was one of a group of activist farmers who took umbrage at the 2024 budget. His fellow protesters, who included Jeremy Clarkson, rolled furiously into Westminster on tractors after the chancellor’s announcement to yell and beep at No 10 and the Treasury.

Their protests garnered crowds of tens of thousands, arguing the new taxes would lead to the closure of farms as the tax bill would significantly outstrip revenue.

Since then, the group become a thorn in the government’s side, following former environment secretary Steve Reed when he spoke at farming events, to beep their tractor horns loud enough to drown him out.

Burnham’s team appears to have weighed the benefits of keeping this noisy, tractor-driving community of dissenters on side and is actively working to repair the fractured relationship.

It may already be yielding results, as there is no planned protest by farmers at this year’s budget. A bridge may have been built, but is by no means guaranteed to last.

Last year, a record 6,300 forestry, fishing and farming businesses closed, according to the Office for National Statistics. This has been linked by some to the tax changes, though extreme weather and rising inflation have undoubtedly played a part.

Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Blunkett recently said at a Countryside Alliance event: “It’s very strange because we’ve never won so many rural seats since 1945 – around 135 Labour MPs are either rural or semi-rural – and their voices need to be heard much more clearly.”

It seems Burnham is trying to do this. The Mail on Sunday recently reported that a U-turn on the inheritance tax is on the table for the next budget. Government sources have confirmed to the Guardian that it is a possibility, and that ministers are looking for a sweetener for farmers. This could be a reduction in inheritance tax, or more money for nature-friendly farming.

One rural Labour MP said: “There are other things you could do for farmers that could be significantly better than changing inheritance tax again – new money for farming would be great and also meaningful progress on procuring public food from British farmers.”

The farming budget that replaced EU subsidies has been a shambles. Earlier this week, thousands of farmers were left empty-handed with the government’s £253m annual budget spent in just six hours.

“I have had some very upset emails from farmers,” the MP said. “The current system creates an exclusionary aspect, for those who can afford a land agent to get the email in. We need a new system.”

They added that Starmer froze out rural MPs who questioned his decision on inheritance tax: “Under Keir it wasn’t just farmers who felt shut out, it was rural MPs too. There has been a step-change since Andy came in with the relationship with backbenchers.”

The new environment secretary, Angela Eagle, appointed by Burnham, has been on the road in recent weeks to visit farms and strike up a rapport with farmers.

Martin Williams, one of Harrison’s fellow activists, farms arable crops on the banks of the River Wye in Herefordshire. Eagle came to visit him in recent weeks: “It is surprising what you can achieve if people actually speak to each other,” he said. Of Burnham, he added: “He is a savvy politician, he knows that you can’t throw away a whole contingency of voters. It was very difficult to get any meaningful dialogue with government but under the new regime it has changed quite markedly.”

Harrison also had a visit from Eagle: “When Angela turned up it was just like I knew her. The Defra team said ‘she wants to know what’s going on and hear your opinion’, she brought policy advisers.”

It helped that the Defra secretary is a nearby MP: “Angela only lives over the river from me, we didn’t disagree on anything.”

Though Burnham and his team seem to have avoided a protest, they may have an uphill battle winning back the farming vote. A recent poll from the Country Land and Business Association found that 0% of farmers would vote Labour again.

Harrison said: “I’ve had a few comments saying don’t trust them, they haven’t got a vote left in the countryside, that is totally understandable. There are some farmers who are so angry still.”

But the government may have something left to fear from Jeremy Clarkson, who was recently spotted filming an episode of his popular Amazon show, Clarkson’s Farm, with David Cameron. The former prime minister issued a rare rebuke against the government, calling the inheritance tax on farm assets “stupid”. Clarkson declined to comment when the Guardian asked if, like Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham would be banned from his Cotswolds pub.