Inside the ‘potent rebellion’ spreading across Britain that could HALT Reeves and Starmer in their tracks

Chancellor Reeves slapped previously exempt farmers with 20 per cent tax on assets over £1million, a paltry threshold when land is worth up to £30,000 an acre and a combine harvester £750,000.

Cash-poor but asset-rich farmers say they will have to sell land and machinery to fund the tax, breaking up farms passing through families for generations and damaging the UK’s food security.

Experts have warned many farms will be bought by faceless mega companies from London or abroad with no interest in farming or maintaining the land as they won’t have to pay a massive inheritance tax bill every forty or so years.

The government maintains death duties are a fair and balanced way to plug the £22billion black hole, but Britain isn’t buying it.

Two massive tractor protests have gridlocked central London, but now there is a different kind of rebellion spreading across the country, one that is being led by local authorities in the form of a town hall rebellion.

As reported by the Countryside Alliance- Britain’s largest rural lobby group- 22 councils have voted through motions opposing the tax hike in recent weeks, several in constituencies where Labour has newly elected MPs.

This puts fresh faced MPs in a difficult position. Support the government and their party or support their local authority and rural constituents.

In Rushcliffe, where the Labour MP James Naish overturned a previous Tory majority, the district council passed a motion demanding that he lobbies the Chancellor to drop the plans, for example.

Cllr Neil Clarke, the leader of Rushcliffe Council, warned that the changes to inheritance tax “threaten to cripple many family farms” which have “no means to pay such punitive amounts”.

Meanwhile, Jon Pearce, the Labour MP for High Peak, has been sidelined by his borough council and the local authority will be writing to the Chancellor directly to urge an about-turn.

Other town halls to pass motions expressing their dismay include Devon County Council and Norfolk County Council, where councillors hit out at the Chancellor’s “assault” on the countryside and “rural way of life”.

Cornwall, Kent, North Northamptonshire, Rutland, Somerset, Suffolk and Buckinghamshire councils also passed motions against the policy.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher of the Countryside Alliance said: “The list of councils opposing the family farm tax is growing quickly and we expect more will be signing up in the New Year.

“This is undoubtedly a challenge for those rural Labour MPs representing seats in these council areas, many of whom understandably feel like they’ve been thrown under the bus by this hated policy.”

The rebellion leaves many fresh-faced Labour MPs at loggerheads with their local authority and many of their rural constituents and with more councils set to pass motions demanding their MP oppose the policy, a grim 2025 awaits for rural Labour MPs.

LIST OF MPs REPRESENTING CONSTITUENCIES WHERE A LOCAL AUTHORITY HAS PASSED A MOTION AGAINST LABOUR’S FARM TAX

It consists of 31 Labour MPs, 22 Conservative, 16 Liberal Democrat, 2 Green and 1 Reform.

Cornwall

Camborne & Redruth: Perran Moon (Labour)

North Cornwall: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat)

South East Cornwall: Anna Gelderd (Labour)

St Austell & Newquay: Noah Law (Labour)

St Ives: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat)

Truro & Falmouth: Jayne Kirkham (Labour)

Kent

Ashford: Sojan Joseph (Labour)

Canterbury: Rosie Duffield (Labour)

Chatham and Aylesford: Tris Osborne (Labour)

Dartford: Jim Dickson (Labour)

Dover and Deal: Mike Tapp (Labour)

East Thanet: Polly Billington (Labour)

Faversham and Mid Kent: Helen Whately (Conservative)

Folkestone and Hythe: Tony Vaughan (Labour)

Gillingham and Rainham: Naushabah Khan (Labour)

Gravesham: Lauren Sullivan (Labour) and Adam Holloway (Conservative)

Herne Bay and Sandwich: Roger Gale (Conservative)

Maidstone and Malling: Helen Grant (Conservative)

Rochester and Strood: Lauren Edwards (Labour)

Sevenoaks: Laura Trott (Conservative)

Sittingbourne and Sheppey: Kevin McKenna (Labour)

Tonbridge: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative)

Tunbridge Wells: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat)

Weald of Kent: Katie Lam (Conservative)

North Northamptonshire

Corby and East Northamptonshire: Lee Barron (Labour)

Daventry: Stuart Andrew (Conservative)

Kettering: Rosie Wrighting (Labour)

Wellingborough and Rushden: Gen Kitchen (Labour)

Rutland

Rutland and Stamford: Alicia Kearns (Conservative)

Somerset

Taunton and Wellington: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat)

Yeovil: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat)

Glastonbury and Somerton: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat)

Bridgwater: Ashley Fox (Conservative)

Tiverton and Minehead: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat)

Wells and Mendip Hills: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat)

Frome and East Somerset: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat)

Suffolk

Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket: Peter Prinsley (Labour)

Central Suffolk and North Ipswich: Patrick Spencer (Conservative)

Ipswich: Jack Abbott (Labour)

Lowestoft: Jess Asato (Labour)

Suffolk Coastal: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour)

South Suffolk: James Cartlidge (Conservative)

Waveney Valley: Adrian Ramsay (Green)

West Suffolk: Nick Timothy (Conservative)

Buckinghamshire

Aylesbury: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour)

Beaconsfield: Joy Morrissey (Conservative)

Buckingham and Bletchley: Callum Anderson (Labour)

Chesham and Amersham: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat)

Mid Buckinghamshire: Greg Smith (Conservative)

Milton Keynes Central: Emily Darlington (Labour)

Milton Keynes North: Chris Curtis (Labour)

Wycombe: Emma Reynolds (Labour)

Devon

Geoffrey Cox: Torridge and Tavistock (Conservative)

Richard Foord: Honiton and Sidmouth (Liberal Democrats)

Rachel Gilmour: Tiverton and Minehead (Liberal Democrats)

Steve Race: Exeter (Labour)

David Reed: Exmouth and Exeter East (Conservative)

Ian Roome: North Devon (Liberal Democrats)

Rebecca Smith: South West Devon (Conservative)

Mel Stride: Central Devon (Conservative)

Caroline Voaden: South Devon (Liberal Democrats)

Martin Wrigley: Newton Abbot (Liberal Democrats)

Norfolk

Broadland and Fakenham: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative)

Great Yarmouth: Rupert Lowe (Reform)

Mid Norfolk: George Freeman (Conservative)

North Norfolk: Steffan Aquarone (Liberal Democrats)

North West Norfolk: James Wild (Conservative)

Norwich North: Alice Macdonald (Labour)

Norwich South: Clive Lewis (Labour)

South Norfolk: Ben Goldsborough (Conservative)

South West Norfolk: Terry Jermy (Labour)

Waveney Valley: Adrian Ramsay (Green)