Farming families deliver toys and ‘heartfelt message’ to chancellor Reeves

Farming families from across the country have donated thousands of toys for a display outside NFU Conference today, each with their own message to Rachel Reeves about what the changes to inheritance tax will mean for their children’s futures. 

A basket of pre-loved farm toys has then been handed over to the Treasury. 

This symbolic gesture, which represents a farm and a future generation that could be lost, was delivered by NFU members Hazel and Tom Church, their five-year-old son Bertie, together with Hazel’s father 66-year-old Martin Towler, who run a 210-acre livestock farm and tenant a further 400 acres. 

The family is one of many that could be hit with a huge inheritance tax bill if the policy goes ahead. 

READ MORE: NFU Conference 2025: Family Farm Tax is ‘morally wrong’

‘There may be no farm left’ 

Hazel Church said that the family farm tax is a “real worry” for the farming family. 

“We’re just a small family farm in Bedfordshire and we know the changes to inheritance tax will hugely affect us. We could be facing a bill of about £400,000. That is an awful lot of money, more than our annual profit for 10 years, money, which then can’t be reinvested back into the business to make it more resilient for the future. 

“We also can’t gift it as this would trigger CGT (Capital Gains Tax) due to the debt within the business. 

“I’d love to meet Rachel Reeves and explain how this will impact us as a small family farm. I worry, as an urban MP, that she may not know farmers or understand farming. 

“I’d be keen to bring her to our farm, show her what we do and sit down with her and the NFU and talk about how we try to make it profitable and viable, which is already extremely difficult and going to become even more difficult. 

“My main concern is for the future. There may be no farm left at this rate for my son, who wants to be a farmer. We’re not alone either. There are thousands of farming families who will be in this position.” 

The importance of farming 

The NFU said that the display featuring a range of new and old machinery represents the importance of farming through the generations, and all that is at stake if the family farm tax goes ahead. 

Outside the annual conference, the union members have been reading the messages attached to each toy, explaining how the Chancellor’s proposed changes to inheritance tax will affect them. 

One of the messages reads: ‘I have worked all my life caring for the same land that my father and grandfather worked before me. I want my son and grandsons to have that same bond with farming.’ 

Another reads: “Our boys loved to play with this toy combine, hoping to drive the real one when they grew up” 

READ MORE: NFU Conference: Steve Reed promises to make British farming profitable and viable

‘That future now hangs in the balance’ 

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “We can’t ignore the symbolic donation of pre-loved farm toys being delivered to Rachel Reeves, or the huge collection on display donated by farmers from all over the UK, which all represent a farm that could be lost, and the generation, which could lose it. 

“Each toy represents a child who, until this family farm tax was announced, planned a future as one of the nation’s food producers. That future now hangs in the balance. 

“Our message is very clear. We will keep fighting this battle until the government starts to listen, considers our alternative proposals and ultimately takes action.” 

READ MORE: Peta activists jump on stage at NFU Conference 

Read more political news.