Labour MP Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been told to resign as the Chancellor’s “family farm tax” has seen “several more farmers” commit suicide.
Reed’s opposite Victoria Atkins announced in the House of Commons there has been more suicides as a direct result of the farmer’s inheritance tax that Rachel Reeves announced at the Autumn Budget in October 2024.
The top Tory MP and Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary has called on Reed to resign from the Cabinet.
Atkins warned Labour that rural communities are now feeling the reality of the Chancellor’s “tractor tax.”
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Atkins furiously said in the Commons, “Before Christmas, I warned the Secretary of State that a farmer had taken their own life because they were so worried about the family farms tax.
“He responded with anger and later stopped the Farming Resilience Fund which helped farmers with mental ill-health.
“This week I have received the devastating news that several more farmers have taken their own lives because of the family farm tax.
“This is the Secretary of State’s legacy. But he can change it, because it is not yet law.”
She said to Reed that he should inform the Prime Minister there has been more suicides and has called on the government to reverse this “cruel” tax on farmers.
Reed blasted back at Atkins saying, “Can I express my regret that [she] would seek to politicise personal tragedy in this way, I think it’s immensely regrettable she would seek to do that.”
“None of us can know for sure what happens in matters of personal tragedy. But I think it’s beneath her to try and weaponise it in the way she has done.”
Reed said the government is rolling out mental health hubs in “every community, so we can make sure we support farmers and others who are suffering from mental health.”
The Daily Express reported last week that an upset farmer had told Atkins, “If there was a rope in the corner of this room, I would use it.”
Gareth Wyn Jones family who have farmed for more than three hundred years in North Wales warned, “I have never ever been in a situation where we have had so many people in dire straits…. We’re on our knees and there’s this constant barrage of red tape and more taxes, more problems.”
