Eye Farmer voices worries over Government inheritance tax decision as thousands rally in London
A young Suffolk farmer is urging the government to reverse “devastating” decisions made in the budget for the sake of farming’s future.
Today, more than 10,000 farmers are expected to make the trip to London to rally to lobby MPs against the planned inheritance tax rules.
Labour chancellor, Rachel Reeves revealed in the autumn budget that she will “reform agricultural property relief” from April 2026.
Farming assets under £1 million will not be affected, she said, but those over that would will face a 20 per cent inheritance tax bill.
But Jon Watt, 27, who runs a 160-hectare arable and beef contract farming business with his father, David, near Eye, now fears for the future of farmers across all sectors of the industry with changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) dealing a hammer blow to farming families.
With the average farmer’s return on capital invested less than one per cent, there are widespread concerns this could force farmers to sell their family farms to pay the Inheritance Tax bill.
Mr Watt, who gave up his career as a professional racing car driver to join the family farm in 2019, said: “If the tenancy is ended, I will have wasted the last five years building up this farm business.
“This tax benefits nobody. Family farms who have farmed for generations risk going out of business, which is heartbreaking.
“The taxes those businesses and their staff generated for the government and the business they created for others will be lost.
“The environmental work these farmers are doing to protect the countryside will no longer happen and it will greatly impact farmers’ ability to deliver national food security.”
The NFU strongly rejects the government’s claims that around three quarters of farm businesses in England will be unaffected by the changes to APR and highlights the contradictions between different government departments.
The Treasury claims that 73 per cent of APR claims are below £1 million and so would be unaffected. However, Defra’s own figures show that only 34 per cent of farms are under £1 million net worth.
Mr Watt said: “The government has got this badly wrong if they think they are taxing the wealthy.
“Just because a farm has more than £1m of assets, it does not mean the farmers themselves are wealthy people.
“This is just the value of the assets needed for a farm business to produce food.”
He added: “Farming is an amazing career. There is so much variety to the job and so many opportunities for young people willing to work hard.
“But this is a devastating budget for farmers and this could bring a big change.
Speaking to the Diss Express, Waveney Valley MP Adrian Ramsay said he felt that the Government should have another look at how many farms this is going to affect.
He said: “When public services are in such a poor state and need huge investment, it is clearly right that the Government reviews where money can be raised and cracks down on those very wealthy individuals who are buying farmland to avoid inheritance tax.
“But it needs to differentiate between these large estates and family-owned farms, which often deliver very modest incomes for farmers.
“It is disturbing that such a sweeping change can be introduced without ministers even knowing who will be affected.”
The decision prompted senior figures at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) to meet government officials to outline the impact of the changes on family farms, and the potential ramifications regarding national food security.
President Tom Bradshaw said after the meeting: “I have spoken to a huge number of our members and heard some really upsetting accounts of what this tax would do to family farms.
“Distressed elderly parents are having to apologise to their children in tears for something that is not their fault, while hard-working men and women, who have spent years building up farm businesses, are now wondering what is the point in carrying on when it is going to be ripped apart.”
