A scheduled farmers’ protest appears to have received the go-ahead after a meeting between NFU chief Tom Bradshaw and Environment Secretary Steve Reed failed to result in a resolution.
Bradshaw, who is representing growing numbers of disgruntled farmers, accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of introducing an “unfair” inheritance tax levy after leaving Whitehall earlier today.
Reeves announced a 20 per cent levy on farms worth more than £1million in last week’s tax-raising Budget.
The Chancellor suggested the threshold could be placed at closer to £3million in some cases.
Farmers’ protest gets go-ahead as Labour slammed over ‘unbelievable discrepancy’ on crippling inheritance tax
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Speaking after he emerged from a meeting with Reed and Treasury Minister James Murray, Bradshaw said: “Obviously, we fully dispute the figures the Treasury has been using and we’ve played back Defra’s own figures.
“So, the Treasury is saying only 27 per cent of farms will be within scope of these changes, Defra’s own figures suggest that two-thirds of farms will be in scope.
“How they can have that wide a discrepancy within Government is quite unbelievable.
“There’s certainly no resolution today, we’ve made very passionately our perception clear: that this tax change is completely unfair.
“It had been ruled out by the Secretary of State in the run-up to the election and now there are many family farms right across the United Kingdom that are worried for their future.”
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Rachel Reeves delivered the Budget on WednesdayPAHundreds of angry farmers will now hold a major demonstration in Whitehall in opposition to Reeves revoking farmland exemptions from death duties.
The NFU will outline plans for a mass rally outside Parliament on November 19.
Members fear the move could kill off family businesses, damage food security and set back environmental protection work.
TV property guru Kirstie Allsop and ex-Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson are among the most ardent opponents of Reeves’ tax raid.
Reform UK’s Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe also spoke out against the inheritance tax change.
He said: “Reeves’s budget isn’t just assaulting British family farms, it’s British family businesses too.
The National Farmers’ Union are set to protest in London later this month PA“They’re facing the same inheritance tax hike – generations-old firms will be forced to sell.
“Family farms and businesses hold communities together. It all must be reversed.”
However, Sir Keir Starmer is holding firm on the Chancellor’s tax raid.
Responding to questions about the impact of the tax changes on farmers, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Chancellor had to set out a range of very difficult, tough choices at the Budget on Wednesday in order to address the fiscal black hole that the Government inherited.
“Those decisions were never going to be easy but it means that the Government’s able to wipe the slate clean and put our public services and our economy on a sustainable footing.”