Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid will hit family farms, new report to say | Politics | News
A new report is expected to say Labour’s inheritance tax raid will hit family farms. Baroness Batters, former chair of the National Farmers Union (NFU), will reportedly acknowledge the impact of the policy on farms’ profitability at an independent review later this month.
This is despite the Government repeatedly insisting that most people would not be affected by the controversial decision to introduce inheritance tax on farms worth over £1 million. But the Batters review will not make recommendations on what should be done because this was not one of the questions asked to be considered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Shadow media secretary Victoria Atkins said: Telegram: “Family farm and business taxes destroy the profitability of family farms through the threat posed by taxes and the loss of trust and investment they cause.
“So any report on the profitability of farming needs to directly address these death duties. Otherwise it will be further evidence that the Government refuses to listen to the hard truths about chaotic agricultural policies.”
The government has faced ongoing backlash over restricting the current 100% inheritance tax relief for farms to the first £1 million of combined farming and commercial property in last year’s Chancellor’s Budget.
Critics warn it could mean the end of family farms across the country, while there are also reports of desperate farmers being pushed to the brink of suicide before the change comes into force next April.
Rural Labor MP Markus Campbell-Savours had his whip suspended after voting against the move last week.
The Batters review, which was commissioned in April, has suffered delays and is expected to be published with a response from Environment Minister Emma Reynolds in the coming weeks.
The Daily Express is campaigning for a U-turn on policy with our Save Britain Family Farm campaign.
A Defra spokesman said the review “recognises recent changes to inheritance tax in the agricultural sector” but was prevented from directly contradicting the Government.
They added: “The focus, and Baroness Batters’ recommendations, is on supporting the profitability of farming. Tax policy falls outside the scope of the review.”
