Rachel Reeves has been ordered to “overturn” Labour’s inheritance tax raid on Britain’s farmers, as the Chancellor was warned of the “crippling” impact the policy will have on the countryside.
Farmers have expressed their fury with Labour’s government following the Budget announcement last week, and have planned a mass lobby of MPs on November 19.
Scolding the decision, President of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Tom Bradshaw hit out at the “unacceptable” tax on farmers, stating it has “not been thought through” by Reeves.
Speaking to GB News, Agricultural Mortgage Advisor at Bagshaws Emily Mosley expressed her concern for the future of the industry and claimed the threshold of £1million is “peanuts” for a standard British farm.
Emily Mosley demanded Rachel Reeves ‘overturn’ the inheritance tax raid on farmers following Labour’s Budget
GB News
Mosley told GB News reporter Will Hollis: “The agricultural property relief is really hurting farmers. It will be a massive impact to us in terms of the agricultural relief and the business property being combined.
“That affects everything on farm – it’s not just the land and property, one combine harvester and one forage harvester – you’re at the million pound before you even start on any land, any property, and any livestock. And these are fundamental to a lot of farms.”
Issuing a stark warning for the future of farming, Mosley highlighted that farmers may be forced to “sell or split land” to bring the value of their farms under the threshold for paying the tax.
Mosley explained: “A lot of land will be sold and split, which will affect food security in this country. Because without these farms, without the generations of farming behind it, it will all get lost.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the blow to farmers in her Budget announcement last week
GB NEWS
“Farming is very close knit, we’re a rare community, and it will have significant effects to the next generation.”
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When asked how farmers she has advised on the tax are feeling about the changes, Mosley said many families are “sitting around the kitchen table” trying to figure out the future of their farms.
Mosley said: “A lot of farmers have already sat around the kitchen table and thought, if it comes, what’s going to give?
“We do tell them speak to your accountant, speak to the tax advisers and keep planning and keep following and hope it gets overturned.”
Delivering a message to the Chancellor on behalf of farmers, Mosley stated: “My message would be to overturn the inheritance tax on the agricultural relief and the business property relief, because it will cripple the countryside.”
Emily Mosley told GB News that the move will have a ‘massive impact’ on the UK’s food security
GB News
Offering some optimism for the industry, Will discussed the confirmed decrease to interest rates from 5 per cent to 4.75.
Although the new rate is “welcome” for the farmers facing the raid, Mosley made clear that the inheritance tax will still prove a significant impact to businesses.
Mosley concluded: “Even if it is by a quarter of a percent, it is welcomed, we’re all very pleased.
“Farming basically runs in debt, we have a lot of overdrafts, a lot of mortgages. Livestock is financed a lot of the time, so it is welcomed, but there is the backdrop of the agricultural property relief, which is really hurting farmers.”
