National Farmers’ Union President Tom Bradshaw has said farmers across the UK are very concerned by Labour’s inheritance tax change and warned “many of them want to be militant” over the Chancellor’s decisions in the Autumn Budget.
Last week farmers who were watching Labour’s first Budget were left horrified and have spoken out saying this is “completely unfair.”
The NFU President said there is a lot of “anger” out there among farmers and this is not going to go away quietly.
Bradshaw said he’s never seen “the weight of support, the strength of feeling and anger” over the inheritance tax changes.
Farms worth more than £1 million (which is a vast majority) will be billed with 20% inheritance tax, this could lead to £3 million in taxes left to be paid by those who inherit the farm, which could lead to them being sold for a loss, this also will affect many as most have no capital.
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On Monday the NFU President met with the Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray and warned most farms will be affected.
Bradshaw told the PA news agency, “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% 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.”
He said there’s no resolution to the “massive mistake” made by the Chancellor, adding, “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.”
Bradshaw said: “There’s no way through it for them.”
He added, “We will continue to try and work with the Government to get to a resolution but something has to change.
“I have never seen the weight of support, the strength of feeling and anger that there is in this industry today.
“Many of them want to be militant.
“Now we are not encouraging that in any way shape or form, but Government need to understand that there is a real strength of feeling behind what this change means for the future of family farming in this country.”
The Chancellor told the BBC on Sunday, “Only a very small number of agricultural properties will be affected, but last year the benefits of agricultural property relief, 40% of the benefit was felt by 7% of the wealthiest land owners.
“I don’t think it is affordable to carry on with a relief like that when our public finances are under so much pressure.”
