\n<\/p>\n
Ministers will increase the threshold for taxing inherited farmland from \u00a31m to \u00a32.5m after months of pressure from campaigners and MPs representing rural areas.<\/p>\n
In a statement slipped out just before Christmas, the environment department announced the U-turn, which will apply from April when the tax kicks in.<\/p>\n
Plans to tax inherited agricultural assets worth more than \u00a31m at a rate of 20% were announced in Rachel Reeves\u2019s first budget last year.<\/p>\n
The change reversed tax relief that has existed in its modern form since the 1980s. Above the \u00a31m threshold, inherited farmland was to have been taxed at 20%, half the standard inheritance tax rate, in a move initially estimated to raise \u00a3520m annually by 2029.<\/p>\n
The announcement was labelled a \u201cfamily farm tax\u201d by critics and triggered protests around the UK, with farmers arguing it would prevent many of them from passing on their farms to their children.<\/p>\n
The reversal follows intensive behind-the-scenes efforts from a group of Labour MPs who had been pushing for the threshold to be changed, and who made their case to Treasury and environment ministers as well as Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n
The prime minister conceded at a select committee hearing last week that he had been told of terminally ill farmers planning to kill themselves to avoid the tax.<\/p>\n
Downing Street sources indicated that a number of backbenchers had \u201cbuilt a strong evidence base\u201d and argued privately against the tax, including Starmer\u2019s parliamentary private secretary, Jon Pearce.<\/p>\n
Nearly a dozen MPs were involved, including the MP for Peterborough, Andrew Pakes; the MP for Aylesbury, Laura Kyrke-Smith; the MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, Callum Anderson; the MP for Hitchin, Alistair Strathern; and the MP for Hastings and Rye, Helena Dollimore.<\/p>\n
Markus Campbell-Savours, a Labour MP who represents the rural Cumbrian seat of Penrith and Solway, was suspended from the party earlier this month for voting against the tax.<\/p>\n
A government source said there was no change in Campbell-Savours\u2019 suspension and that he had been disciplined for voting against a budget resolution.<\/p>\n
In a statement announcing the U-turn, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said ministers had \u201clistened to concerns of the farming community and businesses about the reforms\u201d.<\/p>\n
Raising the threshold will mean fewer farms will be taxed. According to the government, the number of estates affected next year will be 185, down from 375.<\/p>\n
The change means married couples with estates of up to \u00a35m will now pay no inheritance tax on them, as they can combine two \u00a32.5m allowances.<\/p>\n
The climbdown will cost the exchequer \u00a3130m, meaning the changes are still expected to raise nearly \u00a3300m a year.<\/p>\n
The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, said: \u201cWe have listened closely to farmers across the country and we are making changes today to protect more ordinary family farms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only right that larger estates contribute more, while we back the farms and trading businesses that are the backbone of Britain\u2019s rural communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Farmers\u2019 Union president, Tom Bradshaw, hailed the announcement as a \u201chuge relief to many\u201d that would greatly reduce the tax burden for many family farms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am thankful common sense has prevailed and government has listened. I have had two very constructive meetings with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and dozens of conversations with Defra secretary of state Emma Reynolds. She has played a key role underlining the human impact of this tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese conversations have led to today\u2019s changes which were so desperately needed. From the start, the government said it was trying to protect the family farm and the change announced today brings this much closer to reality for many.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said the change was a big win for the Tories\u2019 campaign against the tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier this year, I was told to drop our campaign, that there weren\u2019t many votes in it, there weren\u2019t many farmers, and people assumed they were wealthy enough to cope anyway. I ignored the advice and kept campaigning,\u201d she said. \u201cFarmers are exactly the kind of people Conservatives stand up for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Liberal Democrats urged ministers to go further and scrap inheritance tax on farms entirely. Reform UK\u2019s deputy leader, Richard Tice, said the concession was better than nothing but also called for the tax to be abolished.<\/p>\n
The Labour Rural Research Group, which represents Labour MPs in rural seats, welcomed the announcement. Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, the MP for Suffolk Coastal and the group\u2019s chair, said it meant \u201cfewer families facing impossible choices, and greater certainty that farms can continue to operate, invest, and contribute to our rural economy\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ministers will increase the threshold for taxing inherited farmland from \u00a31m to \u00a32.5m after months of pressure from campaigners and MPs representing rural areas. In a statement slipped out just before Christmas, the environment department announced the U-turn, which will apply from April when the tax kicks in. Plans to tax inherited agricultural assets worth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1723,4160,764,321,183,1580,101,14346],"class_list":{"0":"post-38824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-backlash","9":"tag-farms","10":"tag-inheritance","11":"tag-ministers","12":"tag-raise","13":"tag-spending","14":"tag-tax","15":"tag-threshold"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}