The Conservative Party has pledged to reverse Labour’s inheritance tax changes affecting family farms, Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins announced on GB News.
Speaking ahead of a Commons debate, Atkins expressed concern about the impact of the tax policy on rural constituencies.
She highlighted how farmers are often “asset rich” due to high land prices but can be “cash poor” with annual incomes as low as £20,000.
Atkins called on the 114 Labour MPs representing rural constituencies to “really think about the impact” of the tax policy on their constituents.
Victoria Atkins has pledged to ‘reverse’ the inheritance tax raid on farmers ahead of Commons debate
PA / GB News
Following widespread backlash on the policy, the Conservatives have now forced a debate and vote in the House of Commons on the issue.
The Shadow Environment Secretary questioned how farmers could manage inheritance tax bills reaching hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds while dealing with family bereavement.
Atkins told GB News: “I’ve heard from farmers whose incomes can be as small as £20,000 a year. How on earth then are they supposed to pay an inheritance tax bill at a point, of course, where they have also suffered a family bereavement?
“That’s why they are facing this bill in the first place. How on earth are they supposed to pay a bill of hundreds of thousands of pounds, or even over a million pounds, which is some of the figures that I’ve been given by farmers?”
When asked if the Conservatives would reverse the inheritance tax change, Atkins declared “we absolutely will”.
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She added: “On so many levels, we believe this is the wrong thing for our countryside. We know the impact that this will have on family farms over the coming years.
“At the moment, farmers are having incredibly difficult conversations, quite heart-wrenching conversations, if they’re older, about whether they are a burden.”
“It’s terrible that a Labour Party, Labour government policy, would cause these sorts of conversations to be being had,” she told GB News.
She emphasised the Conservatives’ commitment to reversing the tax when back in government.
Atkins told GB News that the move is ‘bad policy’ for Labour
GB News
“We are convinced this is a bad policy,” Atkins stated, highlighting her party’s opposition to the measure.
“If you care about the quality of our food, if you care about animal welfare standards, if you care about our countryside and nurturing the wildlife for generations to come, family farms are an essential part of this,” she told GB News.
Atkins concluded: “In other words, rather than just 500 farms being affected each year, as the Treasury claims, in fact, it could be as many as 75,000 individuals over a generation.
“So we will reverse this tax when we’re back in government, because we are convinced this is a bad policy.”
