Llandudno targeted as 'first ever' farm strike aims to empty supermarket shelves

Furious farmers have warned of "massive" food shortages and "significant" food price hikes as the industry prepares for its first ever strike. From Sunday, November 17, supplies of meat and crops will be tightened in protest at Labour’s new inheritance tax policies.

The week of industrial action includes a demonstration in Westminster on Tuesday, November 19. Police and organisers have relocated the event because Trafalgar Square, the original venue, is not big enough to contain the numbers of people expected.

Angry farmers also plan a tractor convoy protest at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno on Saturday, November 16. Organisers will demand an audience with the Prime Minister but say they will aim to get their message across without disrupting the resort.

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Welsh pressure group Enough is Enough has called on "those who are able" to begin a week-long strike with the aim of stopping produce leaving their farms. In a statement, the group said: “We are being suffocated by a government that seems determined to destroy our livelihoods, our future and our ability to feed the nation.

“This country will be facing massive food shortages with potential significant price increases and the demise of the rural economy along with a serious implications of food security. We simply cannot allow the destruction of our industry to continue and our responsibility to feed our nation be taken away.

“This is a last resort but we as farmers are in despair as we simply cannot afford to provide food to the public. We ask this government to talk to us, to listen to us, and allow us the freedom and flexibility to feed our nation.”

Not all supplies to retailers and auction markets will be stopped next week. Farmers facing cashflow difficulties will not be expected to keep back livestock and crops. Dairy farmers are exempt from the strike due to the perishability of milk and eggs. Sign up now for the latest news on the North Wales Live Whatsapp community

A Denbighshire farmer warned: “Although it won’t be a universal strike, there may be some inconvenience to customers as supermarket shelves empty and panic sets in. If this doesn’t work, and the UK government doesn’t listen, we will look to alternative ways of protesting in the coming weeks.”

The planned strike is among a raft of measures being considered by an industry that feels its future is being threatened by Labour governments in Cardiff and Westminster. Farmers have threatened to halt sewage slurry collections from water companies, causing backlogs. They may also target ports and supermarket distribution hubs to restrict food supplies.

The unrest is a response to chancellor Rachel Reeves’ controversial decision to impose a 20% inheritance tax on farmland worth more than £1m for the first time since 1992. Ministers have insisted that only about a quarter of farmers - the largest landowners - will be affected.

Among those pledging support is Conwy hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, citing a need to protect his family’s 375-year-old farming legacy. Given the value of farmland and farm properties, he has claimed farmers can "no longer afford to die" without losing family assets needed for continuity of food production.

The Denbighshire farmer, who asked not to be named, said inheritance tax concerns coincided with long-running anxiety over the “imbalance” of priorities between food production and the environment. Fanning the flames was a commitment by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at this week’s at COP29 climate conference cut the country’s carbon emissions by 81% within 10 years.

The UK government’s own independent scientists, the UKCCC, have said petrol and diesel cars will need to be eliminated and homes will also need heating without gas. They are have also warned of the need for a 20% shift away from meat and dairy products in the next five years. Huge woodland planting schemes are already supplanting swathes of farmland in Wales.

Comments by John McTernan, a former Tony Blair adviser, have further angered farmers. Supporting the need to end agri subsidies, and increase “cheaper” food imports from countries like Australia, he said he was in favour of doing to farmers “what Margaret Thatcher did to the miners”. The Prime Minister has distanced himself from the comments, saying he “totally disagrees”.

But the Denbighshire farmer said: “For John McTernan to say what’s happing to farmers is payback for the miners shows how deep-rooted the mindset is within the Labour party. The only parallels with what happened to the miners is the lack of planning by the governments of the time. In the 1980s, the mines were shut without considering the potential impacts and what might replace them.

“The same is happening to farming now - there have been no impact assessments. But if governments continue to support environmental schemes and not food production, it will become impossible to maintain current food supplies in this country.” Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox

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