McDonald's must stand up to Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty/PA)
A guilty pleasure of mine is a double sausage and egg McMuffin. It does wonders for the soul and is the perfect remedy to the previous evening’s visit to the local pub. I’ve no idea how they do it, but the McDonald's website proudly reassures me their most ‘essential ingredient’ is the 29,000 British and Irish farmers whose quality produce makes their favourite products.
This week, farmers have pleaded with the burger giant to join the growing army of retailers standing in solidarity with the agricultural sector in calling for an urgent rethink over the hated family farm tax.
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Express readers will know that since Rachel Reeves’s controversial Budget in October, farmers have been engaged in an epic battle for survival. Rural experts have repeatedly warned that the Treasury’s plans to make farms worth more than ￡1m liable for 20pc inheritance tax from April 2026 could impact 75pc of farm businesses, with many farmers warning they will have to sell off land or their whole farms to foot the bill.
Sensible calls to the Treasury for a policy rethink and consultation with the rural sector, including the National Farmers Union, have been met with deathly silence. The Chancellor is clearly very wary of backing away from a headline policy announced in her first budget and getting the government to accept a rethink will require a long campaign.
Farmers have, thankfully, found allies in a growing number of major national retailers.
Farmers protesting against inheritance tax (Image: PA)
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Supermarket giants including Tesco, Waitrose, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have all spoken out against the Chancellor’s IHT changes in recent weeks, demanding she halt the overhaul. Only last week, Iceland boss and Labour Party supporter Richard Walker came out swinging, warning that the Treasury had “parked its tractor in the wrong place going after hard-working British farmers”.
Mr Walker’s welcome intervention came only hours after campaign group, No Farmers No Food, took to social media to ask why Iceland had not followed other supermarkets in speaking out. The group, which has over 20 million impressions a month on X and is powered by a cross section of farmers and volunteers, has this week put the spotlight on McDonald's: “They describe British farmers as ‘their most essential ingredient’. Will they speak up for farmers now, before it’s too late?”.
In under 24 hours, McDonald's responded.
In a statement it said it “recognised the importance of this issue to British farmers” and that it is “conscious of the concerns being raised”, further adding that it was “reliant on a thriving farming sector and want to see policy that will support farmers and help them to grow their businesses”.
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While the response undoubtedly offers heartfelt words, it noticeably falls short of joining supermarkets and other retailers in specifically urging the Treasury to halt and rethink the policy.
Farmers will understandably want to see more. The family farm tax is clearly not a policy that will either “support farmers” or help them “grow their business”. Rather, it is a policy that will see family farms and farmers thrown under the bus, with land managed and cultivated by families over generations sold off.
McDonald's has a strong record in championing our farmers and has done so for many years, arguably flying the flag before it became popular to do so. Its website boasts of its innovative Farm Forward agricultural programme which has three big aims: supporting resilient farmers, raising animal welfare standards and making environmental improvements. These are all honourable objectives, but they can only be achieved with a strong and buoyant network of family farms.
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The time for McDonald's to join the growing army of retailers in calling on the Treasury for an urgent policy rethink is now, before it’s too late.
When I next order my double sausage and egg McMuffin, I hope to do so knowing that McDonald's has the back of the farmers it depends on, in their most significant hour of need.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher is Director of External Affairs for the Countryside Alliance