This week, Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives will force a vote on Labour’s contested plans to force more rural families to pay inheritance tax (IHT).
Labour MPs are being urged to scrap the “vindictive” changes in order to “save the family farms” ahead of the upcoming opposition day debate on December 4.
Tory MPs will insist that Parliament hold a vote on the controversial IHT overhaul.
Farmers are calling on politicians to use the upcoming Commons vote to show constituents “where they stand”.
POLL OF THE DAY: Should MPs vote to ‘save the family farm’ in crucial Commons challenge? – VOTE NOWPAShadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “Labour’s vindictive family farm tax threatens to destroy British farming as we know it. Labour MPs have a choice to make.
“Will they vote to axe the tax and save the family farm? Or will they turn their backs on rural communities and back the Budget of broken promises?”
Labour’s new Budget plans will abolish inheritance tax relief that previously exempted farmland from death duties.
Under the changes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, land valued above £1 million will be taxed at 20 per cent upon the owner’s death.
The policy has sparked outrage in rural communities, with farmers taking to London’s streets in protest last week.
Starmer’s Government claims just 550 farms will be affected per year, however the NFU and Country Land and Business Association estimate numbers to be as high as 70,000.
While some Labour MPs from more rural constituencies – such as Andrew MacNae and Steve Witherden – have raised concerns about the plans, others have doubled down in their support.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said the farmers were “wrong” about the policy, and Minister for Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner has urged farmers to calm down.
“I urge people to look calmly at the detail and I think they will find that the vast majority will be fine,” he said.