Furious rural Tories led by Harriet Cross MP personally delivered a letter to Downing Street (Image: GETTY/X)
Rachel Reeves has been urged to immediately U-turn on her decision to punish hard-working British family farms with “crippling new tax bills”.
Furious rural Tories led by Harriet Cross MP personally delivered a letter to Downing Street calling on the Government to listen to their concerns.
Farmers are being hit by the Chancellor’s “cruel” decision to axe Agricultural Property Relief (APR).
This newspaper’s Save Britain’s Family Farms crusade is campaigning for Ms Reeves to reverse the move, which will see farms worth more than £1million saddled with a 20% inheritance tax (IHT) bill.
And now, a letter signed by more 100 than parliamentarians and industry groups has ratcheted up the pressure on the Government to think again.
MPs, Lords and rural organisations used the two-page missive to warn changes to APR “present serious and potentially devastating challenges to family farms across the UK and our nation’s food security”.
They said: “For many, passing on the family farm is not merely a matter of inheritance but ensures food security, local employment and a way of life that has shaped our rural communities and economies for generations.
“The assertion that these changes will only affect the ‘richest estates’ fundamentally misunderstands the nature of modern farming operations.”
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Farmer James Mills stands to be impacted by the changes (Image: SUPPLIED)
Notable signatories included former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, as well as agricultural bodies such as British Dairying and the Tenant Farmers Association.
Aphra Brandreth, the MP for Chester South and Eddisbury, who joined Ms Cross and her Conservative colleagues in delivering the letter, warned APR changes were a “threat to farming, food security and rural communities and must be scrapped”.
She told the Express: “I was proud to join colleagues delivering this letter directly to Downing Street.
“In signing this letter we are calling for the Government to reverse its decision on the family farm tax.
“The Government must listen to the concerns of not only the over one hundred Parliamentarians and organisations who have signed this letter but the thousands of farmers who have made their thoughts on the policy clear.
“The changes made to Agricultural Property Relief are a threat to farming, food security and rural communities and must be scrapped.”
Greg Smith, the MP for Mid-Bucks, who also delivered the letter, said the APR cuts would “devastate” family farms.
He said: “It is simply not true when the Government says that only a few farms will be affected because I am already hearing from farmers in my constituency saying they will have to sell up to a third of their farm to meet the tax bill.
“That is the end of those farms. That is the end of food production.
“We have got to get rid of these APR changes.”
Aphra Brandreth out on the rural campaign trail in Cheshire during the general election campaign (Image: REACH)
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Ms Cross said: “Labour’s family farm tax must be reversed.
“It targets family farms, threatens food security and impacts rural employment and communities.”
Joining Ms Cross, Ms Brandreth and Mr Smith at Number 10 were Alicia Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Stamford, Sarah Bool, the MP for South Northamptonshire and Charlie Dewhirst, the MP for Bridlington and The Wolds.
They join a growing chorus of voices to come out against Labour’s plans, which the Government insists are necessary to fix public services and place the economy on a firmer footing.
The new Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Andrew Griffith, slammed the Government for its policy to reform APR: “It’s absolutely wrong for Labour to pretend that the family farm tax doesn’t capture every single farm.”
Speaking to Duncan Barkes on the weekly podcast of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, “A Nation of Taxpayers”, he added: “Like Russian dolls, with each generation that passes, you end up with farms worth 80% of what they were before.”
Greg Smith is the Tory MP for Mid-Bucks (Image: JONATHAN BUCKMASTER)
Ms Reeves has defended her proposed reforms by claiming it is not “affordable” to keep the current system.
Budget documents state the Government wants to restrict the “generosity” of APR for the “wealthiest estates”.
The first £1million of combined business and agricultural assets will continue to attract no inheritance tax.
But for assets over £1million, inheritance tax will apply with 50% relief, at an effective rate of 20%.
The Chancellor said “only a very small number of agricultural properties” will be affected, although the National Farmers Union warned the reforms could force farmers to sell their family farms to pay the inheritance tax bill.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has repeatedly insisted “food security is national “security” and that the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has a “steadfast commitment to farmers”.
He said: “Our Labour Government has committed £5billion in the agricultural budget over the next two years.
“As part of that, we’ve allocated the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.
“I completely understand farmers’ anxiety at any changes.
“But rural communities need a better NHS, affordable housing and public transport we can provide if we make the system fairer.
“That is why the Labour Government has announced plans to reform Agricultural Property Relief.
“Look at the detail and you’ll see that the vast majority of farmers will not be affected at all.
“They will be able to pass the family farm down to their children just as previous generations have always done.”
