When Rachel Reeves stood up to deliver the Labour Party’s first budget in 14 years last week, I feared it would bring little good news for Suffolk. The reality was worse. It was a budget of broken promises from a party intent on betraying the countryside and rural communities.

Just over a year ago, the Suffolk County Council passed a motion backing Suffolk’s meat, dairy and arable farmers. Our motion recognised the key role they play in our local economy and delivering food security to the UK. Agriculture is a vital part of Suffolk. It is a vital part of our nation. I must declare an interest, my partner’s family are farmers - so I know at first hand how hard they work and how narrow the margin is between success and failure.

Like the NFU and farmers across the country, I was staggered when the new Labour government made changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) in the budget. This change sounds the death knell for small family farms. Let me dispel a myth, many farmers are not wealthy. They strive to make ends meet. So these changes, which will see them facing huge bills when a family member dies and passes the farm on to their descendants, can only be met in one way - selling off land. This makes their farm smaller, less viable and in turn risks our food security and drives up prices on supermarket shelves.

At a time when we should be making life easier for farmers and increasing the quantity of British food on our shelves, this budget does the total opposite. Prior to the election, Steve Reed MP, who is now the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, made repeated assurances that the Labour Party had no plans to change APR. Now we see what their word is worth. Nothing.

Labour said that they’d protect ‘working people’. The changes to APR demonstrate that Labour don’t think farmers are working people - a day on my partner’s family farm or on any farm in Suffolk, would show Keir Starmer how wrong he is.

But the budget also showed they don’t believe business owners are working people either!

The increase in Employer’s National Insurance contributions will make life much harder for businesses here in Suffolk and across the nation. It will reduce profits, suppress wages and damage growth. Ultimately, it is working people who will pay the price for this as businesses pay less and recruit less. In fact, I’m already hearing stories of Suffolk businesses reducing hours and reconsidering some of their plans as a result of this and other changes in the budget.

Suffolk’s business community is exceptional and resilient. As a result, I know that many businesses will weather this storm. But they should not be facing this assault from the new government and neither should our agricultural community.

Where does this Labour budget leave the national tax burden? At its highest level since records began. Let me say that again, the taxes that you and I pay, that businesses pay, have never been higher. Labour said in their manifesto that they would increase taxes by £8 billion. In her budget, Rachel Reeves put them up by £40 billion. Another promise broken.

The much vaunted Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) not only failed to find evidence of Labour’s claimed ‘£22 billion black hole’ they also said that living conditions will get worse as a direct consequence of the decisions in this budget. Over and above this, the OBR said inflation will be higher because of the budget. That means interest rates will be higher for longer and Suffolk families will face higher mortgage rates for longer.

Labour’s budget of broken promises makes life harder for farmers, for businesses and for families in our county. It is the worst possible start and it is no surprise that Keir Starmer has seen the fastest fall in popularity of any Prime Minister following a general election in history. First his party was embroiled in scandal and now, in this budget, they have broken their word.

We as Conservatives both here in Suffolk and nationally under our new leader, Kemi Badenoch, will continue to challenge Labour. Theirs is the politics of envy. They do not understand the countryside. As my party renews and rebuilds faith following the general election, you have my word that we will never lose sight of how vital both business and farming are to Suffolk.

Councillor Matthew Hicks is Conservative leader of  Suffolk County Council