Jeremy Clarkson's grim warning as he brands Keir Starmer 'a nightmare'

Jeremy Clarkson has branded vegetarian Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer a 'nightmare for farmers' amid growing row over Labour's inheritance tax raid. 

Farmers have said they will be forced to sell off their holdings after Chancellor unveiled a £500 million tax grab on the farming sector last month. 

The plans will impose inheritance tax on farms worth over £1 million, with an effective tax rate of 20 percent on assets above the threshold.

According to official government estimates, almost half of farms in England (49 per cent) are worth over £1.5 million. 

It comes as thousands of farmers attended a rally in London on Tuesday venting their anger as they claim family farms will have to be sold off to pay the tax.

Former Top Gear host and Diddly Squat owner has famously backed farmers at the protest near Whitehall earlier this week, where he clashed with Newsnight host Victoria Derbyshire. 

In a recent interview with the Times, Clarkson took another swipe at Labour, dubbing them 'dreadful people', whilst adding that farmers who he says are in 'absolute poverty' 'are f***ed'.

'Starmer's a nightmare for farmers. He doesn't know what farming is. He doesn't even eat meat. Dreadful people,' he told The Times. 

'That's the problem we're facing in farming. Nobody understands the first thing about it'. 

His criticism also extended to Rachel Reeves, as he argued the 'vast majority' of people who aren't city dwellers 'absolutely support farmers'.

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He also accused the Chancellor of using a 'blunderbuss' to hit every single farmer with the controversial tax. 

Clarkson also said the suggestion that only a small few will be impacted was 'utter, utter b*****t', however this view is not backed by most official analysis. 

Clarkson, who is entirely 'behind any escalation' of the tax row, has become one of the more well-known faces of the movement despite his belief that farmers should be at the forefront. 

Clarkson contested that it was 'absolutely nuts' for the government to expect farmers to sell food for less than its cost to make whilst also having to pay the same tax as others in the country. 

He asserted that he was behind the campaign for there to be no inheritance tax placed on farming land.  

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The state of farming was in 'an absolute parlous state' before the budget, according to Clarkson who explained the industry is based on a broken model.

He said the desire for cheap food, supermarkets and concerns over the environment was cutting into the income of farmers.

'These poor guys and girls are sitting on their tractors on their own, earning no money, it's freezing cold and it's dangerous,' he added. 

He bashed 'mean spirited' Reeves' budget as an act of cruelty, whilst noting that one of his workers won't be able to inherit her father's farm because of the tax grab. 

According to Clarkson, the young woman works on his farm and then a nurse for the week but still has 'no money to spend' despite her tireless efforts. 

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It comes as environment secretary Steve Reed yesterday claimed to understand the 'anguish' caused by his inheritance tax grab on family farms - but refused to apologise.

Mr Reed told a gathering of farmers that the 20 per cent levy was needed to pay for a '£22billion black hole' in public finances left by the previous government.

But the decision to impose the levy on farmers comes as receipts to the government from inheritance tax have hit record levels.

HM Revenue and Customs said that in the past seven months, the Treasury had received inheritance tax worth £5billion - £0.5billion more than this time last year.

Asked in a press conference if would apologise for the 'frustration and anxiety being triggered in elderly farmers - Mr Reed said 'It's hard to be sorry for making this country's economy and public services work again.'

Mr Reed told the conference: 'I'm not pretending these decisions are easy'.