What have MPs said during the IHT debate in Parliament yesterday?

The petition, launched by the NFU and signed by more than 270,000 members of the public, argued that changing inheritance tax relief for agricultural land will devastate farms nationwide, forcing families to sell land and assets just to stay on their property.

The campaign was launched following announcements by Chancellor Rachel Reeves during the Budget last October, which dealt a hammer blow to farming families nationwide with changes to APR and BPR (Agriculture Property Relief and Business Property Relief).

Labour MP Ben Goldsborough, a member of the Petitions Committee, has been asked by the committee to open the debate that took place on Monday, 10th February,

He said: “Not many petitions submitted to the Petitions Committee can demonstrate not just a willingness to engage in online activism but real-world engagement with Parliament.

“Campaigns by the NFU, the CLA and the Campaign to Protect Rural England have been effective in drawing attention to petitioners’ concerns, as has the ‘Stop the family farm tax’ campaign, which has placed banners across many constituencies, including mine. No matter what our opinions on the proposed policy changes, this issue has created public engagement with politics from the countryside that has not been seen in over 20 years.

“That is why this debate is both needed and important to demonstrate to farmers that, by peacefully engaging with Parliament, their voices can be heard. They have been effective in successfully shedding light on the daily challenges that face this fundamental sector. I thank them for that and encourage them to continue to advocate positively for rural Britain.”

MP Goldsborough added that there is a “deep uncertainty” among farmers about what the changes will mean for them.

“Uncertainty is bad for business, and it is bad for farmers’ mental health, so I encourage the government to offer as much proactive engagement and clarity to farmers as possible, including in their response to this debate,” he continued.

READ MORE: Petition to overturn family farm tax receives over 260k signatures 

‘Betrayed’ by Labour government

Scottish Conservative Party MP John Lamont said: “Today I will highlight the shortsighted, reckless and misguided Labour policy to increase tax on farmers. I start by paying tribute to the petitioner for raising this important issue and to the hundreds, if not thousands, of farmers outside this place showing how much they hate the policy.

“It is an issue that has dismayed and appalled my constituents in the Scottish Borders. They are bitterly disappointed because this decision by the Prime Minister will mean the sad – even tragic – end of many family farms.

“Many farmers will no longer be able to pass their property, on which their ancestors may have worked for decades or longer, on to the next generation. That is not right. It is not why they have worked so hard to look after the countryside, and why they have got up early and worked late all their days.”

MP Lamont said that his constituents feel “betrayed” by the Labour government that promised the changes would not happen.

“Labour made it abundantly clear that it would not increase taxes on farmers. But just like with the winter fuel payment to pensioners and national insurance rises on businesses, “Labour did not tell the truth. It broke its promises, and the consequences of it not keeping its word will be profound to people in the Borders, Scotland and the United Kingdom,” he continued.

MP Lamont has also pointed out that if the nation is no longer self-sufficient in food production, people will become much more dependent on lower-quality overseas imports.

“Labour has made a grave error, which will cost our farmers and our country dearly. That is why so many people in the borders and across the whole United Kingdom are concerned by this decision.

“It will have negative consequences that last generations, and that may not be reparable. Unlike any other businesses, farms cannot come back once they close; they are often gone for good.

“Labour needs to rethink its family farm tax policy. Labour said “change” often enough in the run-up to the general election, and that is exactly what needs to happen now: this deeply damaging policy needs to change.

“It needs to be scrapped, or family farms will be lost, supermarket prices will go up, food security will be at risk and our environment will suffer. The Scottish and British people have spoken on this policy; now, Labour needs to listen.”

Conservative MP Damian Hinds said during the debate: “Economic growth requires productivity gains and productivity gains require investment, and this policy is clearly going to hit investment in the vital rural sector badly.

“[…] My question to the minister is: what monitoring are the government doing of investment in the agricultural sector and the harm that this policy may do to productivity? Farm is a business, it is more than just a business, a job or an investment.

“Ministers should not expect the same approach to be taken if family farms are broken up and replaced by something else.”

‘Disastrous mis-step’

Scottish National Party MP Dave Doogan added that the IHT policy is “fundamentally unjust”.

“The government said that they would not do it, and they have gone ahead and done it. They have applied it without any warning. There is no taper into the new regime. It gives no time for farmers to adjust their tax arrangements.

“It is diametrically opposed to current tax advice, which is grossly unfair. It ignores the fact that there is no actual financial enrichment; farmers simply become the custodian of an asset. It does not go after the non-farming interests that are avoiding tax. It ignores the disproportionate effect on Scotland.”

MP Doogan continued by saying that the policy is “economically incoherent” and also called it a “disastrous mis-step”.

“It is a tax on the production of food. It will precipitate a reduction in investment. That will mean lower yields, which will mean higher prices. That will be inflationary, which is the last thing that this economy needs. It is not just farmers who will be undone by this policy; it is the entire agricultural supply chain.

“This policy is anti-growth. As I suspect the government now fully realise behind closed doors, it is a disastrous mis-step. It plays fast and loose with the mental health of farmers. Let me echo the chorus from the National Farmers Union Scotland that this policy must be paused and the industry must be properly consulted. The outcome must be the removal of this iniquitous threat to all that we hold dear in our agricultural and rural communities and economies,” he concluded.

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Cause of ‘huge distress’

Green Party MP Ellie Chowns said that the policy was introduced in a “deeply regrettable” way.

She continued: “Not only because it has caused such huge distress to the farming community – we are all aware of the mental health challenges that those in the community face anyway, and this has made it worse – but because it hugely undermines the much more positive and constructive conversations that government and farmers desperately need to have in order to face the challenges of food production, job generation, tackling climate change and protecting biodiversity.

“Those are areas where farmers and government need to work hand in hand for the long term, but all of that has been blown up in the air by the way the policy has been introduced, it is super frustrating.”

Conservative MP Harriet Cross added: “In the 103 days since the Budget and the chancellor turned farmers’ lives upside down in this country, we have heard stories from farmers across the UK, and will hear more today.

“Labour members marched out stories of their own farmers; a few months ago, they did not hear anything from their farmers, but suddenly they have a voice. It is good to hear that they have been listening and now are actually representing those farmers’ voices.”

READ MORE: Suffolk: ‘We stay united’ – over 100 tractors are taking part in farmers’ rally

‘Laws should not be made retrospectively’

British Reform UK MP James McMurdock said that changes to the inheritance tax “will achieve the opposite of food security”.

“[…] If we carry on, we will see farms forced to sell, bought by private equity firms, and half our food production could be lost within a generation. It will be hugely damaging to mental health, and I say with all sadness and sombreness that I believe lives have been lost already.

“This policy is damaging and ill thought through. Laws should not be made retrospectively – that is a fine point that has already been raised. Farmers would have had to be aware of this change seven years ago in order to be in a good position for it today, and I want to add to that point. As I understand it, this is also a breach of a promise.

“If a policy is wrong, stop doing it, that makes pretty good sense to me. It is a self-defeating policy because it will not raise the money that it is supposed to, and it may be rather counter-productive.”

The UK Parliament website explains that e-petitions enable members of the public to petition the House of Commons and press for action from the government.

If an e-petition receives more than 100,000 signatures, the Petitions Committee will consider whether it should be debated. 

READ MORE: Display of pre-loved farm toys planned as symbolic gesture for chancellor Reeves

United front

Thousands of farmers gathered outside the Parliament building yesterday to show their united front in the IHT fight.

More than 1,000 tractors have driven to Whitehall on 10th February, to underline the issues farmers are currently facing, including changes to the inheritance tax reliefs, substandard imports and a looming US trade deal. 

The founder of Save British Farming, Liz Webster, said: “Successive governments have failed to internalise the lessons learnt from the last two world wars when reliance on imports left Britain exposed, ensuring the ‘Dig for Britain’ effort and food rationing.  

“History does repeat itself and this government assumes that cheap imports from volatile regions will always be available. We do not have an empire any more to redirect food supplies to Britain and urgently need government to think again as global tensions are increasing.  

“Failure to heed the lessons of the past is ensuring we are marching into a food crisis and being held to ransom by hostile nations.” 

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