Farming groups have expressed their “fury” with the “morally bankrupt” government after a long-called-for meeting with the Treasury brought no changes to its much-criticised Inheritance Tax policy.
In a press conference following the meeting this morning, a crestfallen NFU president Tom Bradshaw said “disappointment doesn’t describe how I feel at the moment”.
The NFU and other UK farming unions were joined by representatives from the Country Land & Business Association, the Tenant Farmers Association and the Central Association for Agricultural Valuers at the meeting, with exchequer secretary to the Treasury James Murray and farming minister Daniel Zeichner.
But despite voicing hopes of a concession on the rollout of the so-called ‘Family Farm Tax’ in the run-up to the meeting, Bradshaw told journalists “there is no movement”.
The government “resolutely believes they are correct in the decisions they have made and that they are generous in the exemptions that they are giving us”, he added. “The reaction from our members is going to be one of fury, one of anger, one of desperation.”
The groups had been invited for the meeting to raise their concerns around the policy change – announced in the budget on 30 October – which will see agricultural and business property reliefs halved for farming businesses valued above £1m.
But Bradshaw and his colleagues had quickly come to the conclusion the meeting had been agreed to for appearances’ sake, so that Murray could state he had met the farming sector. Murray even admitted that “I’m meeting with you because you asked for a meeting”, Bradshaw claimed.
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The farming groups had presented an alternative solution to the Inheritance Tax changes the via a potential “clawback” mechanism.
The proposed solution suggested retaining 100% agricultural and business property reliefs for qualifying assets. However, Inheritance Tax would still be applied to these assets if sold within a certain time period post-death, payable from the proceeds of sale.
“We offered a solution which has the same outcome, or nearly the same outcome, as the one they’re looking for, which makes you feel there is ideology running behind this,” said Victoria Vyvyan, CLA president, who added she came out of the meeting with “boiling blood”.
“The principles of good taxation are you should take the tax when the money is available,” said Bradshaw.
“They haven’t even looked and modelled whether or not we can service the Inheritance Tax bill, and it just beggars belief that they are pushing on with this tax policy which is going to have such untold consequences for the future of our members, but also for the future of food production in this country,” he added.
Manifesto commitment in shreds
“I thought their manifesto commitment that food security is national security was genuine.”
Bradshaw said the true victims of this policy would be the elderly or terminally ill, who had no way to plan for for the tax changes – which are due to come into force in April 2026.
Murray, Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer would “have to be able to live with these outcomes”, he warned. “Ministers will reap the consequences.”
“Nobody who’s given their life to producing this country’s food should ever be put in that position that unfortunately they’ve been put in by this change to government policy,” said Bradshaw, who called the policy “morally wrong” and suggested there would now be “repercussions from farmers”.
However, it was not clear what the next step would be for this campaign, with an emotional Bradshaw saying “we’ve done our best”.
“I still believe there is an opportunity where if the government really wanted to come to a solution, we have a workable solution that we will discuss with them but at the moment, the message was clear. Today, it was ‘go away’,” he said.
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Last week, Starmer cut short a visit to Buckinghamshire after a group of farmers staged a noisy tractor protest against the changes to Inheritance Tax.
Bradshaw alluded to the damage this may have done to the negotiating position of the farming groups, however, saying, “what we don’t know is, is what would have happened if that direct action hadn’t taken place and I can’t tell you that”.
“I don’t believe that backing the prime minister into a corner is how we get this sorted,” he added.
When questioned about whether there would be any further direct action in the wake of the meeting, Bradshaw reiterated the need to keep the public on side.
“The retailers have done nothing wrong in this,” he said. “The public have done nothing wrong in it, and yet, I get the genuine anger and frustration that farmers are feeling today, but the public support is our way through.”
Vyvyan said that “it feels like an attack on our sector,” and that “we feel selected for pain”.
It comes as some 1,400 tractors descended on Westminster last week to protest against the policy change.
The groups have still not secured a meeting with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, which Bradshaw said they were still keen to pursue.
“If the Chancellor believes this policy is right, if the Chancellor is willing to own the outcomes of this policy, if the Chancellor is willing to run down our rural economies, to risk the future of domestic food production, then the Chancellor should look us in the eyes and tell us that she’s right,” he said.
“To date, she hasn’t been willing to justify the policy since, since she stood at the despatch box.”
Vyvyan also expressed frustration that before Christmas Reeves had asked for solutions but when presented with one, it “turns out she didn’t want them”.
The groups said they had also been told that backbench MPs who are supporting farmers on this issue had also been unable to secure time with Reeves.
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