Morrisons has stressed it will continue to give farmers campaigning against the government’s changes to Inheritance Tax “a warm welcome” at its stores, despite it securing a High Court injunction against protestors at its sites.
The retailer this week confirmed it had secured a High Court injunction prohibiting anyone from entering certain parts of its property, creating blockades or otherwise impeding business at eight separate distribution centre sites.
The move followed the blockading of its Bridgwater DC in Somerset on 10 January by members of the Farmers To Action group – which ultimately led Morrisons head of agriculture Sophie Throup to post a video on social media expressing the supermarket’s support for the farming sector.
The 12-hour blockade by 50 tractors led to serious disruption, impacting overnight deliveries and creating supply issues at Morrisons stores serviced by Bridgwater.
“By blockading Morrisons today, we’re proving a point,” one farmer told local media. “If supermarkets can’t stock their shelves, people might realise the value of what we do.”
Given the threat of “immediate further action, we’ve had to take the difficult decision to seek a High Court injunction to restrain unlawful protest action aimed at preventing us from operating from our sites”, Morrisons said.
“However, please know that we remain committed to continuing to work with all our farming network on the issues that matter most to you,” it added.
A spokesman for the retailer told The Grocer the injunction did not mean farmers and their tractors “turning up and giving out leaflets” at its stores – as has been the case across numerous supermarket branches in the UK in recent weeks – would be prevented from doing so.
“Anyone who wants to turn up at Morrisons and protests in a non-disruptive way will be welcomed with tea and a bacon roll,” he added, while pointing out Morrisons had also announced a 25% discount for farmers in all cafés every ‘Tractor Tuesday’, just before Christmas, and offered farmers a 5% grocery discount too.
“We are Britain’s biggest customer of UK farming and, as we have said before, we sympathise with the position of UK farmers and we support your concerns,” said Morrisons in a separate statement. “However, we also need to ensure that we protect our business and the integrity of the food supply chain, for all our customers, throughout the UK.”
Farmers To Action – which has since voiced its support for Morrisons’ backing for farmers on its social media channels – was approached for comment.
It comes as the NFU gears up for a nationwide ‘Day of Unity’ on Saturday (25 January) with almost 50 individual events in protest at the so-called ‘Family Farm Tax’ already organised.
The event would give the public the opportunity to add their local support, the NFU said.
“It will show MPs and ministers clearly that agriculture across the whole of the UK is united in rejecting this awful policy – a policy we were promised would never happen,” it added.
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