A heated exchange erupted on GB News as Matthew Stadlen questioned the extensive coverage of farmers’ protests, leading to a fierce response from Ben Leo.
“Why are we making such a fuss about farmers?” Stadlen asked, pointing out that farmers can pass on up to £3million inheritance tax-free while other professions cannot.
Ben Leo fired back: “Because farmers, the products they produce, the food they put on your table, are the lifeblood of this country.”
The clash intensified as Stadlen compared farmers to doctors who “keep us alive,” while Leo emphasised farmers’ role in food production, stating: “They put the muesli in your bowl.”
Matthew Stadlen asked ‘why are we making such a fuss about farmers?’
GB News
Stadlen said: “What do doctors do? Doctors keep us alive. They stop us from dying.”
He later added: “The assumption here is that all farmers want to hand down their farm to their children. It goes on for generations.
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“That will be the case in some cases, but there will be plenty of farms whose children go into teaching or being nurses or doctors or whatever.
“Then they hand the farm over, the children are already doing something else, and they just inherit this enormous amount of property which they could then sell, and there’s no inheritance tax paid on it. That is completely bonkers.
“There will be people watching this programme this morning who are builders merchants, who are doctors, who might live in a £2m home that they’d love to hand over to their children tax free.
“They have to pay tax on it. Why are we making such a fuss about farmers?”
Ben Leo was left fuming by Stadlen’s comments
GB News
Ben Leo asked: “What do you think is going to happen when farmers have to close down? Who’s going to come in and take hold of those properties in the land?”
Stadlen dismissed this concern, responding that Ben was “missing the point.”
The heated debate comes as hundreds of farmers prepare to descend on Westminster today in a major protest against inheritance tax changes.
More than 300 farmers are expected to drive their tractors to Parliament in the ‘RIP British Farming’ demonstration.
Tractors will descend on Whitehall today
PA
Speeches are scheduled for noon, followed by a slow tractor drive around central London from 12:45pm.
Kent Fairness For Farmers organiser Matt Cullen said: “The time has now come for farmers to unite and stand up and fight back against the government tax decisions.”
“We need to show this government that we will not be pushed over and have our farms destroyed!” he added.