THE MP for Winchester is to meet with Hampshire farmers to discuss the impact of the inheritance tax they must now deal with after the autumn budget.

Danny Chambers MP met with representatives of the NFU Winchester Farmers this afternoon, November 19, in London to discuss the farming community's response to the budget, inheritance tax and planned protests.

Mr Chambers, a member of the Liberal Democrats, grew up on a family farm and has long worked with farmers as a large animal vet specialising in horses prior to becoming an MP, which his team says "offers a rare perspective amongst elected MPs on these issues".

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Danny Chambers MP with Bex Smith at Two Hands sandwich shop in Winchester (Image: Contributed) Speaking to The Chronicle, Mr Chambers said: "The problem is that farms are worth quite a lot of money if they are sold, but actually they don't bring in a lot of money. A lot of farmers are working for minimum wage.

"Food security is national security, and if we have a government that does not understand the farming economy we are going to put farmers out of business."

The MP placed much of the blame at the feet of the Conservatives, who he says did damage to the farming industry through their policies, which did not take into account the everyday reality faced by many farmers.

He added: "Now we have got a Labour government which does not seem to understand farming either. It's been a tough old time for farmers."

This comes after Mr Chambers' visit to Winchester High Street, where he talked to business owners and workers about the implications of the Autumn Budget for shops and restaurants.

He toured the city centre with Paul Spencer of Winchester BID, who said: “It feels like businesses have been hit hard by the budget. I think some of the biggest worries for Winchester will be higher employer national insurance contributions and the drop in the business rates discount for retail, leisure and hospitality.

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"Some sectors will find it harder than others to pass on increasing costs to customers so they may need to make sacrifices, perhaps by delaying planned investment and keeping a close eye on staffing costs."

Mr Chambers added: “Public services have been hammered over the past 14 years. Across Hampshire that’s particularly affected our health services and schools. It’s completely right to find ways to boost funding and investment in these sectors to fix the damage the Conservatives have done, but the government didn't have to target small and medium sized businesses to do it.

“Let’s get the hugely profitable big banks, oil and gas industries and tech giants to pay their fair share.”