30 councils join town hall rebellion against inheritance tax ‘attack’ on farmers
17th January 2025
Town halls across the country have openly rebelled against the family farm tax, putting local Labour MPs under mounting pressure to publicly oppose the policy.
In recent weeks councils have passed motions calling on chancellor Rachel Reeves to axe the measure, which they say represents an “attack” on the countryside.
The milestone comes in the same week that supermarket giant Morrisons threw its support behind farmers protesting Labour’s inheritance tax changes.
The grocery chain’s head of agriculture, Sophie Throup, posted a video message on social media expressing solidarity with Britain’s farming community:
A message to British Farmers from Morrisons – we’re with you and support you 💪 pic.twitter.com/9hfp1pluBj
— Morrisons (@Morrisons) January 11, 2025
READ MORE: Pensions to be included in the inheritance tax calculation
READ MORE: Agricultural businesses join #StopTheFamilyFarmTax campaign at LAMMA 2025
Votes taking place across the UK
Labour’s newly elected MPs from Northumberland, Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as the long-standing ones, are now facing rebellions from their town hall leaders.
The areas represent millions of people and have been passed by councils in all four countries in the United Kingdom. The Countryside Alliance is pushing for more councils to publicly distance themselves from the policy in the coming weeks.
Under the changes, which come into force from April 2026, farms worth more than £1 million will be subject to a 20 percent levy, half the usual inheritance tax rate.
Rural groups argue that the £1 million threshold will hit the majority of working family farms, asset-rich but cash-poor, instead of targeting wealthy landowners seeking to avoid inheritance tax.
Where motions have been debated and voted, tractor demonstrations have often taken place outside council offices, including in Morpeth, the home of Northumberland County Hall, where councillors voted to reject the policy.
Similar scenes took place outside Beverley County Hall in East Yorkshire, when around 100 tractors descended on a meeting of councillors prior to a vote that saw the authority overwhelmingly pass a motion declaring its opposition.
In Worcestershire a fiery meeting between councillors saw one blast the policy as “evil”. Antrim Council in Northern Ireland, Powys in Wales and Dumfries and Galloway Council in Scotland have all also joined the rebellion.
Kirklees, Worcestershire, Somerset, Braintree and West Sussex councils have also passed recent motions against the policy.
In all cases, Labour councillors have either voted against or abstained from registering their opposition to the family farm tax, while the Green councillors have mainly abstained.
READ MORE: Suffolk County Council slams family farm tax and pledges support for local farmers
‘Broken policy’
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance, said: “We warned that the rebellion against this unnecessary, divisive and disruptive tax hike on farmers would grow in the new year, and we are in talks with councillors from across the UK about more joining.
“Having councils, many in areas covered by Labour MPs, openly revolting against the Treasury is a bad look for Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer, both of whom seem unwilling to get experts around the table to find a way out of this mess.
“We all know the policy is broken and that it threatens our food security, and all that the rural community is asking for is an urgent rethink, so family farms aren’t thrown under the bus.
“It is bizarre that Labour would pursue a long battle with the countryside, particularly when the general public are so overwhelmingly supportive of farmers and opposed to this policy”.
A national day of action is planned to take place today, 17th January. Organised by a separate group, it will see farmers and their tractors park up in the supermarket car parks to talk directly with the public about the damage the inheritance tax will have on the farming industry and food security.
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