Starmer denies mounting class war as farmers claim they have been ‘betrayed’

Prime minister says government is taking balanced approach amid protest in Westminster over proposed inheritance tax changes

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Keir Starmer has denied that he is mounting a class war by targeting wealthy landowners and private schools, after the head of the National Farmers' Union accused the government of an extraordinary betrayal" over inheritance tax changes.

In an escalating war of words between food producers and ministers, the NFU president, Tom Bradshaw, called the government's budget measures a stab in the back", after the sector had been previously told that taxes such as agricultural property relief (APR) would not be changed. He was addressing hundreds of farmers who had travelled to London to lobby their local MPs.