The Chancellor provoked widespread fury by announcing that agricultural property relief was being abolished, claiming it was increasingly being used by the very wealthy to protect their assets from tax.
Critics said it could lead to the “death of the family farm” and the National Farmers Union said it could damage food production.
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp accused the Chancellor of “destroying” the chance for farmers to pass down their farms to their children.
Jeremy Clarkson warned the changes are “killing farming”.
Previously those owning farmland benefitted from Agricultural Property Relief, meaning they were exempt from inheritance tax.
But now for those with farms worth more than £1million, the “death tax” will apply with a 50 per cent relief at an effective rate of 20 per cent from April 2026.
Ms Reeves defended her changes on Sunday, saying: “Last year only a very small number of farms would have been paying any additional inheritance tax.”
She added on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “If the farm is owned by two people you have £3 million essentially tax-free and then the tax rate is a 50% discount on everyone else and you would have 10 years to pay it.
“So only a very small number of agricultural properties will be affected but last year the benefits of agricultural property relief, 40% of the benefit was felt by 7% of the wealthiest land owners.”
Asked by the presenter if farmers had to “suck it up”, she added: “I don’t think it is affordable to carry on with a relief like that when our public finances are under so much pressure.
“And, of course, farmers as well rely on good public services whether that’s the NHS, our roads or our schools, and that money will be put back into improving our public services and putting our public finances on a firm footing.”
Asked if the Budget was about “class”, Ms Reeves replied: “It wasn’t an ideological Budget, it was a Budget where we had to raise £40 billion to put our public finances on a firm footing and also to ensure our state schools, our NHS are properly funded and that we can build the homes and indeed invest in those long-term investment opportunities … to grow our economy and bring good jobs paying decent wages.”
Clarkson said the changes “could be the last straw for farmers who are already struggling to cope”.
The presenter of Clarkson’s Farm writes of Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in the Sunday Times: “If the word on the rural grapevine about a farmer’s suicide is accurate, their policy, born of bitterness and envy, may already have tipped one man over the edge.”
It comes after a father was feared to have taken his own life after the Labour tax grab on farmland.
An anonymous Facebook post said the landowner was unable to face his children footing a 20 per cent inheritance tax bill and reportedly killed himself.
The National Farmers Union said it could not confirm the claims but farmers have claimed the looming tax changes risk making some desperate.
The union has called for the Government to U-turn on the family farm tax.
