After the question and answer session, Mr Passmore said the Environment Secretary failed to have empathy and compassion in his response, and said Mr Reed should be representing the interests of farmers to the Treasury.
He added he was sure the Government knew it had got it wrong on inheritance tax about the “insidious position” elderly farmers had been put, but said he did not know “whether they’ve got a political way out”.
Mr Reed addressed the National Farmers’ Union conference in London on Tuesday, setting out measures to increase the profitability of agriculture which he said was the problem at the “heart of the crisis in the sector”.
No one should be wishing their life away, Environment Secretary Steve Reed has said as he was repeatedly challenged by farmers over inheritance tax.
David Passmore, a cattle, sheep and arable farmer in Oxfordshire whose 90-year-old mother owns a share of the farm with him, said there were thousands of people who were wishing their lives away over the new inheritance tax proposals.
