Happy New Year to you all. I hope you had a fantastic time over the festive period with your nearest and dearest.

We all know the incredible contribution our farmers make all year round, but for me there is something about Christmas which really hammers home their essential work.

Perhaps it’s when the whole family is gathered around the table on the big day and we take a moment to look at the impressive feast before us.

Without our farmers, we wouldn’t have any food on the table.

Yet despite the vital importance of our farmers, they have had one hell of a rough year.

Not only have our farmers faced punishing policies from Labour politicians in Cardiff Bay, but also their colleagues in Westminster with the family farm tax.

That tax is devastating for Welsh farmers with generations of family run farms sold or broken up, and it poses a big threat to our food security.

Just before Christmas Day, the UK Labour Government announced that it was slightly watering down the original controversial proposals.

The inheritance tax threshold on agricultural land has been raised from £1m to £2.5m.

Labour politicians are hypocrites. Since the watering down announcement, they have been celebrating the decision – yet they all stood by and supported the policy in the first place.

They voted against efforts to scrap the tax altogether and sat on their hands, but now they are jumping up and down taking credit for the climb down.

Let’s be clear, this decision has come not because of Labour politicians, but because of the relentless campaigning and pressure from farmers, farming unions, and rural businesses, who have been supported by Conservatives every step of the way.

Whilst this is a step in the right direction, it is still not enough. Many working farms will still be caught by the tax.

The fight is not over.

My Welsh Conservative colleagues and I will continue to campaign for this damaging tax to be scrapped in its entirety.

Farmers need a friend, and they will always have one in the Welsh Conservatives.

We will always back our farming communities because with no farmers, there is no food.

As ever, if there is anything I can do to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch by calling 01633 215138 or by emailing [email protected].