Labour MP Henry Tufnell’s family transferred valuable farmland just 20 days before the party’s Budget introduced controversial inheritance tax changes affecting farmers.
The 32-year-old MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire has found himself at the centre of a row over his family’s financial planning.
The timing of the transactions by his parents Mark and Jane Tufnell, who own the 2,200-acre Calmsden estate in the Cotswolds, has raised questions about potential foreknowledge of Labour’s tax plans.
The move could save the family millions in future tax liabilities under new rules targeting agricultural land.
The 32-year-old MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire has found himself at the centre of a row over his family’s financial planning
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The family home at Calmsden features an arboretum, tennis court, spring-fed swimming pool and ornamental gardens designed by Alice Keen, daughter of Earl Howe.
The family also owns multiple residential properties on the Calmsden estate and a £4.4million Belgravia mews house.
For estates like Calmsden, with its 2,200 acres valued at around £10,000 per acre, this could mean a potential tax liability exceeding £4 million.
On October 10, just 20 days before the Budget announcement, Mark and Jane Tufnell transferred ownership of Upper Colne Farm and Stud directly to Henry’s brother Albermarle, 22, according to the Daily Mail.
Upper Colne is understood to be a farming business that controls nearly a quarter of the Calmsden Estate’s holdings, with assets of £2,017,081, including £1,945,468 in agricultural land.Albermarle acquired “significant control” with “75 per cent or more” of shares.
Under current tax laws, this transfer means death duty won’t be due on Upper Colne Farm and Stud when Mark and Jane pass away, provided they live beyond October 2031.
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A second transaction occurred on October 24, just one week before the Budget, when Mark established the “Tufnell 2024 Settlement” trust.
While the exact details aren’t public, a source close to the family says the trust was created to support any future children of Henry, Albie, and their sister Eleanor.
Such discretionary trusts typically allow assets to pass directly from grandparents to grandchildren in a tax-efficient manner.
Labour’s new Budget plans will abolish inheritance tax relief that previously exempted farmland from death duties.
Under the changes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, land valued above £1 million will be taxed at 20 per cent upon the owner’s death.
The policy has sparked outrage in rural communities, with farmers taking to London’s streets in protest last week.
While the family’s inheritance planning steps were entirely legal, the timing has drawn scrutiny, particularly as Labour’s plans to change farmland inheritance tax rules were not yet public.
Shadow Welsh Secretary Mims Davies called the situation “hypocrisy of the highest order.”
“Hard-working farmers and their families who are facing a real threat to their family farm will rightly feel very hard done by when it appears one of Labour’s own has managed, it seems, to be saved from this cruel tax hike,” Davies said.
Gareth Wyn Jones, a campaigner and author of The Hill Farmer, questioned whether the MP’s family had inside information.
A source close to the Tufnell family denied any forewarning about the tax changes, stating the parents acted independently to protect against potential new government policies, the Daily Mail reports.
The source noted that 1,700 acres of Calmsden remains in Mark and Jane’s ownership, leaving them with considerable tax exposure.
A source close to the Tufnell family denied any forewarning about the tax changes, stating the parents acted independently to protect against potential new government policies
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Henry defended his family’s actions, he said: “I appreciate that it looks bad, but there’s nothing that I can do about it.”
He suggested other farmers should follow his family’s example: “My family is like many farming families, and you could say they are doing the exact thing that every farmer in Pembrokeshire should be doing, which is to take advice from an adviser and act on it.”
A spokesperson for Henry told The Pembrokeshire Herald: “As has been widely reported, it would seem that even Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for DEFRA, was not aware of the specific changes to APR and Business Property Relief (BPR) before the Budget was announced.
“It would, therefore, be implausible to suggest that Henry…would have this kind of knowledge prior to the Chancellor’s Budget announcements before they were made public.”
