An East Yorkshire farmer faces an inheritance tax bill of up to £600,000 and fears he could lose his livelihood under changes made to agricultural relief in the Budget.
Steve Ridsdale, 51, lives on a 260 acre farm in East Yorkshire with his wife and son. It’s worth up to £4million and is owned by his 81-year-old father, Terry.
From April 2026, Labour has ruled that farmers can no longer pass down their land to family without having to pay any inheritance tax.
Inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m, which were previously exempt, will be liable to the tax at 20%, half the usual rate.
Steve Ridsdale lives on his father’s farm £4m alongside his family
GB News
Speaking to GB News, farmer and British Farming Union Chair, Steve Ridsdale, said: “We’ve had this sudden shock of a Budget and we weren’t ready for it.
“We could have very easily 20 per cent [inheritance tax] to pay on £2-3m, which equates to £400-600,000 in inheritance tax.
“We’ve got 10 years to pay that tax, but if the farm doesn’t make enough margin to pay the tax, we would have to sell.
“I’m not sleeping. I feel like I’ve worked all my life, and everything I’ve ever earned is going to have to go on tax because of my dad’s age, and because we’re unlikely to be able to get life insurance for him.
“If we can’t get life insurance, the premium will be horrendous.”
The farm has been in the family for over six decades, but now owner and grandfather Terry Ridsdale fears for its future.
He told GB News: “We came here in 1960 and it’s been our lifetime looking after stock, our own cattle and nowadays bed and breakfast ones, and we work the land. It could all go now with this new budget.
“It’s a nice life, really, working outside all the time. But will the younger generation want to continue it and you know, my grandchildren? Doubtful.”
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The farm has been in the family for over six decades
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The worry of passing on the strain to the next generation was also echoed by Terry’s son, Steve Ridsdale.
He said: “I worry for my son [who is 12-years-old] and wonder, is he really going to want to go into farming, on a relatively small farm, knowing that the first thing he’s going to have to do is work for 30 years to pay the 20 per cent inheritance tax?
“He’s not going to want to do it is he? Why would you want to do that, and why would I want him to do that? It’s just an awful situation.”
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has planned a “mass lobby” event in London on November 19 for its members to petition MPs to overturn changes in the budget to agricultural property relief and business property relief.
Organisers are expecting around 10,000 people to march through the capital in a peaceful rally to demonstrate the strength of feeling, which is not aimed at causing disruption to the public.
Along with working on the family farm, Steve Ridsdale is the chair of the British Farming Union. He says farmers could take drastic action if the government doesn’t rethink changes to inheritance tax.
“Some of them are saying, we’re going to have to push back at this and we’re not going to cooperate,” said Steve Ridsdale.
“They’re starting to say, well, are we going to take the sewage sludge? They separate the solids out at the sewage treatment works and there’s 3.6m tonnes, something like 85 per cent of all the sewage solids that go back to farmland.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has planned a “mass lobby” event in London on November 19
GB News
“So farmers are saying, if you’re not going to help us, we’re not going to help you. I can see that it’s only going to get worse, to be honest, because it’s our livelihoods and our businesses.”
The Prime Minister has stressed that the vast majority of farmers will not be affected by changes to inheritance tax.
Appearing at her first Prime Minister’s Questions as opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch described it as a “cruel family farms tax” and vowed to reverse it.
But Sir Keir Starmer said the Budget had put £5billion into farming over the next two years.
“That’s the single biggest increase,” he added, contrasting it with £300m he said had been underspent by the previous Tory government.
He said: “When it comes to inheritance, the vast, vast majority of farmers will be unaffected, as she well knows; as they [the Conservatives] well know.”
The government has also said it remains committed to supporting farmers and “the vital role they play to feed our nation”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said in some cases, the inheritance tax threshold could in practice be about £3m, and the Treasury estimates that around 500 estates per year, including agricultural land, will be affected by the agricultural property relief changes.