A farming chief has called on Keir Starmer to pause his “disastrous” reforms to agricultural inheritance tax in the latest blow to the prime minister over his controversial “tractor tax”.
National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw intervened in the row again on Tuesday to say he had never before seen the “anger, despair and sense of betrayal” prompted by ending the 100 per cent exemption from inheritance tax on qualifying business and agricultural assets worth more than £1 million per person.
In his new year message, Mr Bradshaw said Labour’s first budget, which brought in the proposed changes, had capped a “wretched year” for farming, including volatile costs, one of the wettest periods in decades and a reduction in subsidies.
He described the inheritance tax changes as an “indefensible family farm tax”, although the government has repeatedly defended the move, arguing the vast majority of farmers will not have to pay it.
Mr Bradshaw said that before the election there were a number of policies in Labour’s manifesto that provided optimism and demanded they be delivered at pace.
He called for measures to ensure the new environmental payments regime for landowners works for food production alongside nature, and supports businesses in the uplands in particular, and also urged robust standards for food imports.
He went on to demand legislation to boost promised public procurement of British food and a planning system that supports farmers.
“These are the building blocks needed to secure UK food security and provide Britain’s farmers and growers the confidence they desperately need to invest for the future and deliver on our joint ambitions to produce more sustainable, affordable, homegrown food while creating more jobs and delivering for nature, supporting greener energy security and climate-friendly farming,” he said.
Mr Bradshaw’s latest intervention comes after the leader of the UK’s unions also backed family farms, issuing a warning over the so-called tractor tax – which has led hundreds of farmers to descend on central London in protest over recent weeks.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Saturday, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak threw down the gauntlet to Sir Keir to prove the case for the controversial change and raised concerns about the consequences for hardworking families across Britain.
“I’m worried about the impact of that on small farmers,” he told this newspaper. “You wouldn’t want the policy to impact on small family farms, because that was never the intention. The onus will be on the government to demonstrate that this doesn’t have the impact that some fear it will have.”
In response to the warning, Mr Bradshaw said: “Mr Nowak is right to be concerned about the impact of the family farm tax, and we welcome his comments.”
In his remarks on Tuesday, Mr Bradshaw did also say there had been successes for British farming, including fairer supply chains in the dairy sector and eight of the UK’s major retailers backing the NFU’s long-standing call for “buy British” tabs to be added to their websites.
He added that the NFU would be pushing for fairness in the supply chain in 2025.
“Our ambitions are clear, and the manifesto commitment from this Government that national security is food security gave us hope to deliver the thriving industry that farmers and growers want to be a part of,” he said.
“Clearly, the shadow hanging over the industry from the disastrous proposed reforms to inheritance tax makes delivering these ambitions impossible.
“To move forwards, we need the Government to urgently recognise the need to pause and consult so we can focus on delivering the far more exciting agenda above.
“As we head into the new year, we will build on the momentum of the public’s unwavering support and strive to ensure we are doing everything we can to help deliver a thriving and profitable farming industry – one that is good for shoppers, good for the environment and good for a secure supply of British food.”