Clarkson blasts the BBC asking when did they become ‘the mouthpiece of this infernal government?’ – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Jeremy Clarkson who owns Diddly Squat Farm launched a scathing attack on Labour over their change to inheritance tax on farmers.

Clarkson launched a blistering attack on the BBC and asked since when did they become the “mouthpiece of this infernal government?”

Labour’s inheritance tax will take affect from 2026 and farmers who own land worth more than £1 million will not be allowed to leave their farms to their children unless they pay an extortionate amount of tax which will force many to sell up.

The inheritance tax would have to be paid in instalments over a 10-year period under Labour’s new measures.

The former Top Gear presenter was met with a raucous applause and told the thousands of farmers, “I am not supposed to be talking but we have got a few things to say. I am going to start with a bit of honesty.

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“I lived in London for 25 to 30 years and when I was here, like a lot of people who live in cities and go on Twitter, I thought farmers drove around in Range Rovers, moaning, until February and then you all went skiing.

“And then about five years ago I started farming and I have come to understand just how unbelievably difficult it is and complicated and dangerous and cold, very cold. Even when we’re harvesting it is cold.”

Clarkson added, “You get people saying, ‘Well I didn’t pay that. I can get a chicken from abroad’. Yeah, you can, but it is so full of chlorine it tastes like a swimming pool with a beak.

“And then you have the environmentalist endlessly shouting at you. ‘Oh your cows, they’re contributing to the composition of the gasses in the atmosphere and your fertilisers are ruining the trouty freshness of our streams and rivers’ and I know sometimes you just think what is the point?

“We’re just trying to make breakfast, lunch and dinner (and) it is just this endless whining with money in it. And the regulations, some of you down there will know what I am on about.”

He blasted the Chancellor Rachel Reeves over her inheritance tax changes in the Autum Budget which is the main cause of thousands of farmers protesting.

He continued, “I know a lot of people all across the country, all walks of life took a bit of a kick on the shin from the budget. You lot got a knee in the nuts and a light hammer blow to the back of the head.

“We had pickup trucks being reclassified as company cars, 211 percent tax rise there. £50 carbon tax on a bag of fertiliser. The basic farm payments altered in such a way, that we are getting a lot less than we thought we were going to get.

“Rachel Reeves has told us that 72 percent of farms are going to be unaffected by this, and I have just been interviewed by Victoria Derbyshire for Newsnight… Let’s see if we can educate her here.

“How many people are from a family farm? Right, I hope we can see that, and we have our cameras from the show to see. That is a lot of hands. I want Newsnight to see that.

“Nobody is going to be affected’, Rachel Reeves said so… Since when was the BBC the mouthpiece of this infernal government?”

Clarkson who is known for his humour then said, “I have got to get the brakes on. The trouble is I am off my t**s on paracetamol up here, I don’t know what I am saying.

“I want to finish with a message to the government. For the sake of everybody here, and for all the farmers who are stuck at home paralyzed by a fog of despair on what has been hoisted upon them.

“I beg of the government to be big, to accept this was rushed through, wasn’t thought out and it was a mistake. Admit it and back down.”