[Diggers350] Farmers Revolt: Wed05Mar next as Whitehall famiiy farm land grab protests grow

[Tony Gosling]

Rachel Reeves urged to exempt farmers caught by 
family farm tax 'trap' as mass protest beckons


Chancellor urged to give ‘limited amnesty' to 
older and sick agricultural owners 'snared' by inheritance changes

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2020440/rachel-reeves-inheritance-tax-trap-farmers
By 
<https://www.express.co.uk/journalist/123331/Steph-Spyro>Steph 
Spyro, Deputy Political Editor | Thu, Feb 27, 2025

Farmers are fearing for their future

Farmers are fearing for their future because of 
family tax raid which exempts corporate owned and factory farms

Rachel Reeves has been urged to carve out an 
exemption for older farmers “snared” by her 
inheritance tax trap as protesters prepare for a mass demonstration.

Organisers of a mass rally next Wednesday have 
pleaded for a “limited amnesty” for older and 
sick business owners who lack time to put their affairs in order.

Farmer Martin Williams said: “Since last 
November, farmers have been warning the 
Chancellor and the Prime Minister that there will 
be an acute short-term impact on some of the most 
vulnerable people in our sector.

“People who know they are running out of time 
have absorbed the Government’s message that if 
they die before April next year, their successors will pay no tax.

“If they die after that date, they may have a 
bill so large it will lead to the break-up of the 
business they spent their life building.

“That is creating a dangerous incentive for 
people to do the unthinkable and it needs to be 
rectified even if the overall policy stands in the long term.”

Farmers will descend on Westminster next week to 
urge Ms Reeves to amend her policy so that some 
people in poor health can transfer assets.

The National Farmers' Union has also proposed a 
clawback scheme that would mean tax is only 
charged once a farm is sold, rather than on inheritance.

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Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Environment 
Secretary Steve Reed said: “The Chancellor has 
been very clear about that policy. It has been 
set and it’s not going to be changed.

“I recognise the anguish that people feel about 
that change. It wasn’t something that we intended 
to do before the General Election. The 
circumstances we inherited means that we had to 
take decisions that we weren’t planning to take.”

In her October Budget, the Chancellor announced 
that from April 2026, combined agricultural and 
business property assets of more than £1million 
will be taxed at an effective rate of 20%. 
Anything below that will still receive 100% relief.

The Daily Express has demanded a U-turn through 
its Save Britain’s Family Farms crusade.

It comes as figures showed 30% of farms failed to 
make a profit in 2023-24, compared with 17% of farms in 2022-23.

<https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2019098/steve-reed-nfu-speech-chaos?int_source=mantis_rec&int_medium=web&int_campaign=more_like_this>
Farming minister heckled as speech descends into chaos with fur
<https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2019098/steve-reed-nfu-speech-chaos?int_source=mantis_rec&int_medium=web&int_campaign=more_like_this> 

Farming minister heckled as speech descends into chaos with furious protests

"You’ve got people who get up before dawn and 
they work until late at night six days a week – 
sometimes more than that – and they don’t make 
any money for all that work. You cannot have a 
sector that doesn’t make profit having a bright future.”

He insisted the Government planned to “pull every 
single lever we can” to make the sector profitable.

Mr Reed added: “I’ve said directly to farmers I’m 
very sorry. We said something before the election 
but the circumstances changed. So what we were 
doing had to change. The real problem that 
farmers face is that they don’t make a profit in 
their businesses, or far too many of them don’t.”
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