Government rejects call from supermarket giants to halt controversial tractor tax plan
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Some of Britain’s biggest retailers, Tesco, Lidl and the Co-Op, demanded a pause to the inheritance tax raid as Labour chancellor attempts to woo business investment to the UK at World Economic Forum in Davos. Ministers have rejected calls from supermarket giants including Tesco to halt their controversial ‘tractor tax’ plan.
![[Farmers protest in London against inheritance tax changes and Budget impacts on farming (Andrew Matthews/PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/19/14/6c5ad7ae6a673f6aafaab55a399dccd3Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzMyMTE0MDcw-2.78251662.jpg)
In a highly unusual move, some of the UK’s largest retailers have backed farmers in their fight against Rachel Reeves’ inheritance tax raid, warning the “UK’s future food security is at stake”. But Treasury minister James Murray told MPs ministers would not give in to calls to pause and look again. He said the government was “committed to delivering the reforms announced at the Budget”, adding that it was a “fair approach” that would help to fix “the public services we all rely on”.
The row erupted as the chancellor attempted to woo business investment to the UK at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In a separate blow, a new report by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned the policy may raise less than the Treasury hopes, with the £500m-a year-revenue forecast given a “high” uncertainty rating and likely to fall after seven years as families use tax planning to avoid the charge.
On Tuesday Tesco’s chief commercial officer Ashwin Prasad said that ensuring farms remained economically sustainable was “essential” not just to food security but so customers “can continue to get the great quality food they want, at a price they can afford”.
