Angry farmers have told Prime Minister Keir Starmer his controversial inheritance tax changes risk alienating them completely, with one warning “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and another saying the entire community feels like it is “under attack”.
British farmers have voiced frustration over Labour’s proposed changes, fearing it could threaten the survival of family-run farms, and thousands, many driving tractors, descended on the Welsh Labour Conference in Llandudno today.
Currently, agricultural property relief (APR) allows farmers to pass on farmland and buildings to the next generation without facing a heavy tax burden, a provision seen as essential for maintaining multigenerational operations. Labour’s plans to overhaul or scrap such reliefs – framed as a move to ensure fairness and close loopholes – have left farmers worried that it will force many to sell off portions of their farms to cover the tax liability.
Farmers argue this could lead to the fragmentation of rural businesses, disrupt food production and erode the agricultural heritage of the UK, while critics of Labour’s approach claim it overlooks the unique capital-intensive nature of farming.
Owen Rowlands, a 44-year-old cattle farmer from North Wales, speaking just before he headed to the venue in his tractor, told Express.co.uk: “It just feels like an attack on all the family farms, just not just in Wales, but in the UK.
“It’s just making like nearly impossible for us to carry on farming, especially in Wales. The inheritance tax issue is a problem for the whole of the UK.
“We’re constantly battling the TB issue, which is only getting worse, and none of the things that the government have put in place are dealing with it, and that’s why it’s still getting worse.
“And then, just to top it off, now this inheritance tax issue will most probably make it very hard for family farms to continue.”
Welsh farmer and YouTuber Gareth Wyn Jones, who also joined the protest, likewise accused the Government was “destroying” an industry which was already struggling.
He said farmers will deliver Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer a letter which starts “‘don’t bite the hand that feed you”.
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News: “They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically.
“We need Government support not more hinderance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He also warned inheritance tax change will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to Government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the Government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens said: “Let’s deal with the facts here.
“If you are a farming couple, you can leave your estate to your children, and the estate can be up to £3million pounds in value before you start paying a single penny of inheritance tax because of all the reliefs that would be available to you once you do start paying inheritance tax.
“On a value anything over £3 million pounds, you’re paying it at 20% which is half the rate that non farming estates pay, because the normal rate is 40%.
“And additionally, you have 10 years in which to pay your inheritance tax bill. And what we do know is that around 500 farms across the UK each year will be affected by this budget change.”
