‘Disastrous’ farm inheritance tax changes makes thriving sector impossible – NFU
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A farming leader has urged the Government to pause its “disastrous” reforms to agricultural inheritance tax in order to deliver on food security and growth. National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw said he had never before seen the “anger, despair and sense of betrayal” prompted by ending the 100% exemption from inheritance tax on qualifying business and agricultural assets worth more than £1 million.
In his new year message, Mr Bradshaw said Labour’s first budget, which brought in the proposed changes, had capped a “wretched year” for farming, which had suffered volatile costs, one of the wettest periods in decades and a reduction in subsidies.
He described the inheritance tax changes as an “indefensible family farm tax”, although the Government has repeatedly defended the move, saying the vast majority of farmers will not have to pay it. Mr Bradshaw said that before the election, there were a number of policies in Labour’s manifesto that “provided optimism”, and called for them to be delivered at pace.
He called for measures to ensure the new environmental payments regime for landowners works for food production alongside nature, and supports businesses in the uplands in particular, and also urged robust standards for food imports. He also called for legislation to boost promised public procurement of British food, and a planning system that supports farmers.
“These are the building blocks needed to secure UK food security and provide Britain’s farmers and growers the confidence they desperately need to invest for the future and deliver on our joint ambitions to produce more sustainable, affordable, homegrown food while creating more jobs and delivering for nature, supporting greener energy security and climate-friendly farming,” he said.
