Rachel Reeves is an “absolute disgrace” who is “totally out of her depth” and should resign, a farming campaigner has said in a blistering attack on the Chancellor barely a fortnight before her crunch Budget. Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, issued the demand as she spoke to Express.co.uk on Tuesday, emphasising rural rage over inheritance tax (IHT) reforms which she fears could dismantle family farms and devastate the rural economy.

The Gloucestershire-based arable and beef farmer, a vocal Brexit critic, accused Ms Reeves of Treasury incompetence and called for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s ouster too. Ms Webster, 62, who herself has 300 head of cattle, said: “What Rachel Reeves should do is resign. She’s an absolute disgrace.

“She’s incompetent and she’s absolutely out of her depth. I spoke to a friend of mine who knows somebody who works as an advisor in the Treasury last night, and I heard it more or less straight from the horse’s mouth that she doesn’t have a Scooby-Doo what she’s doing—she’s running around like a headless chicken, and she’s totally and utterly out of her depth.

“So Rachel Reeves should resign, and we all know that Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are interlinked, and they both should go. We need a new broom at the top, which is based in reality and puts Britain first, not America.”

Ms Webster’s remarks coincide with a surge in farmer mobilisation against Ms Reeves’ October 2024 Budget measure, which caps 100% IHT relief on agricultural property at £1 million per estate (£2 million for couples) from April 2026.

Excess assets face a 20% levy, targeting what the Government calls “wealthiest estates,” but critics say will hit working farms hardest, given that illiquid or unmarketable assets such as land and livestock are often involved.

Farm incomes have tumbled by around 25% in 2024-25, according to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs data, amid delays in subsidies, post-Brexit trade barriers, and spikes in input costs. The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) estimates that 60,000 family operations are at risk, potentially eroding the UK’s food self-sufficiency by 10-15%.

The NFU’s “Stop the Family Farm Tax” campaign has flooded MPs with more than 12,000 public letters in under two weeks, spotlighting Welsh dairy farmer Charles Rees’ tearful BBC Countryfile interview on October 26.

The 69-year-old, who is fighting cancer, warned of a £1 million bill on his 300-acre Pembrokeshire holding, asking: “How am I going to save my farm?” – echoing 1970s tax policies that nearly bankrupted his family.

Retailers, food processors, and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Select Committee have branded the policy “unfair”. Independent think tank CenTax has called for amendments, such as full relief up to £5 million per person (£10 million for couples) if farms comprise 60% of an estate, to raise funds from non-farm wealth instead.

Protests have escalated since the announcement. In November 2024, 10,000 farmers blockaded Westminster with tractors bearing the slogan “No Farmers, No Food,” prompting an urgent Efra Select Committee debate. A nationwide “Day of Unity” go-slow is planned for November 24, with convoys in Devon, Somerset, Suffolk, and Derbyshire.

Ms Webster’s group has organised vintage tractor rallies, framing IHT as Brexit’s “predictable” poison – labour shortages, cheap EU imports, and deals risking substandard goods like chlorine-washed chicken.

Meanwhile Labour’s rural support has plunged to 12% from 25% pre-election, per YouGov polls, with reports of a 20% rise in rural suicides linked to financial strain.

Looking ahead to November 26, Ms Webster said: “I’ve never known such a horrible run-up to a budget as we’re getting now, and given what she’s done to us in the last year – which has been horrific – I’ve decided not to invest any anxiety into what I’m hearing of the scare stories.

“As I said, I am seeing that they are in an incredibly weak position, and so I have hope that whatever she decides to unleash in terms of pernicious decisions, it will only be temporary. So a little bit like Liz Truss’s mini-budget, I think that’s what—that’s how I’m looking at it, because I think they’ve lost power, they’ve lost control, and they’re a busted flush.”

In a statement on October 18 with Farming minister Dame Angela Eagle, Ms Reeves insisted: “Our reforms will largely protect family farms whilst limiting claims by the wealthiest estates.” Treasury modelling claims fewer than 500 farms affected annually, with 40% of £219 million in current relief – worth £87.6 million – flowing to just 117 top estates. Redirected funds would bolster public services, she added.

She further outlined her fiscal vision in a November 4 Downing Street speech, the first pre-Budget address of its kind.

In it she said: “Later this month, I will deliver my second Budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer. At that Budget, I will make the choices necessary to deliver strong foundations for our economy… focused entirely on the priorities of the British people: Protecting our NHS, reducing our national debt, and improving the cost of living.”

On economic performance, she noted: “Our growth was the fastest in the G7 in the first half of this year – but I don’t expect anyone to be satisfied with growth of 1%. I’m not – and I know there is more to do.”