Inheritance tax: More than 250,000 back farmers' campaign to overturn Labour's ‘family farm tax’

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “I want to send a heartfelt thanks to the public from the whole farming community for backing our campaign to overturn the family farm tax. 

"At a time when farmers believe government has lied to them and let them down badly, British farmers and growers are heartened to know that they have the support of so many members of the public.

“Earlier on in the year the public decided farming was the second most trusted profession in Britain after only nursing. 

"This milestone of support is further confirmation that the public values British farmers and growers for all they provide and believes they deserve more than this badly designed and poorly targeted policy that could decimate working family farms across Britain.  

“Ministers must rethink the changes to Agriculture Property Relief and Business Property Relief and protect the people they say they want to. 

"If they don’t, they risk reducing our food security and potential food price rises for shoppers as the cost of producing food increases."

It comes as farmers in the region continue to fight for a change to the plans.

James Mottershead, Shropshire farmer and NFU poultry chair, said: “I thought it was amazing to see so many farmers in London.

"I wish it wasn’t necessary, but farmers, rural businesses and those from the countryside have made their voices heard and we have made our case to Government that what they are proposing can’t continue.

“This family farm tax threatens livelihoods, threatens food security and sometimes you have to take a stand, which is exactly what the NFU, its members and the industry is doing.

“We need to keep making the case to our politicians to change this horrendous policy.” 

Shropshire cereal crop farmer Andrew Williamson, of Upper Overton, near Bridgnorth, added: “I think it is incredibly important we are united under one voice - it’s a very rare occasion when you get the whole of the farming community standing together against one particular issue.

“This is going to affect everyone so we need to remain united and try and get this family farm tax overturned.”

He said he had met Stuart Anderson, South Shropshire MP, as part of the county NFU delegation to London and had impressed on him the importance of this to all farmers.

“We need him to keep the pressure up, we need to keep that going too and we need to keep the public on our side, they are brilliant supporters of British food and farming and that is hugely appreciated.

“I think there's a lot of people really considering their futures going forward and this tax burden will really inhibit the next generation coming into our industry, which is a real worry.

“We are food producers and it jeopardises our food security in Shropshire and across the country.

“In the county we are large employers, not just in farming, but through the wider food and drink sector, which is so important to the economy.

“Simply, we need to get Government to realise the mistake they have made.”

Staffordshire farmer David Lane said his father started the family business as a tenant on 90 acres and since then the family had worked hard to build it up 2,000 acres.

The second-generation farmer, who farms at Sandhills, near Walsall, said: “We have to make the case to Government. I have spent 45 years working on my farm, investing my time in the business for the future of my family and to produce food.

“On my demise I’m not going to be able to leave a huge amount of cash but yet my family will be left with a huge debt due to this new tax burden.

“We all need to be working together on this issue and I am asking our MP to represent us well and to get this properly considered, it needs withdrawing immediately and a proper consultation - a considered review needs to be had.”

Mr Lane said apart from inheritance tax the Budget would also leave him and many other Staffordshire farms and those across the country with a £50-a-tonne levy for fertiliser, not to mention continued inflationary pressures from suppliers.

“Also as a small employer I am not directly affected by the National Insurance hike but you can guarantee that when someone comes to me with goods or to service essential equipment needed to produce food, that part of that cost will be passed on,” he added. 

The Government is “for farmers”, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted, as he reiterated his position that the majority of farms will not be affected by agricultural inheritance tax changes.

He said: “We’re for working people who need to be better off, who’ve really struggled over recent years.

“We’re for everybody who wants to and needs to rely on the NHS, which is on its knees, and we’ve got to pick it up and we will and get those waiting lists down.

“We’re for the people who absolutely need somewhere safe and secure to live that they can afford.

“All of that has to be paid for. We are also for the farmers and the pensioners.”

The Prime Minister also reiterated his position that the vast majority of farms will be “completely unaffected” by changes to agricultural inheritance tax.

It was put to Sir Keir on BBC Radio Lincolnshire that family farms will be put out of business by the Budget, and he said “I do understand their concerns”.

He said: “Firstly, in the Budget, we allocated £5 billion over the next two years to farming, that’s the single biggest amount of money into sustainable food production, that’s hugely important for farmers, plus money for dealing with flooding, which is always a problem, and the outbreak of disease.

“For the inheritance tax, obviously, what farmers want to do, understandably, is make sure that the family farm is preserved.

“In a typical case, which is, you know, parents passing, initially to each other, to the other spouse, when one dies, and then on to a child, so that’s a typical case, the threshold before inheritance tax is paid is £3 million.”

He added: “But £3 million means that the vast majority of farms are completely unaffected. The vast majority completely unaffected because that £3 million threshold is a very high threshold.

"There aren’t many farms year on year, that are sold in excess of that amount, and therefore that threshold is high. Vast majority of farmers won’t be affected.”

Asked on BBC Radio Bristol about the £3 million threshold figure, and about the fact the Chancellor Rachel Reeves had said the threshold was £1 million, he said: “Well, there is an allowance for the farm land itself, which is £1 million.

“There’s then an allowance spouse-to-spouse on death, and then there’s an allowance final, you know, surviving parent to child.

“When you add all those up, all three of those, are very likely to be the case for a family farm.”

He added: “When you add those three together, so that’s your classic, typical family farm, it’s £3 million threshold.”