Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Hinckley and Bosworth, has attacked the Chancellor’s changes to Agricultural Property Relief and accused the Labour Government of “taking an axe to the trunk of family farming in the UK.”
In the Autumn Budget on 30th October 2024 the new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced the Government would scrap Agricultural Property Relief for farms valued over £1 million. The Relief was introduced in the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 to stop Britain’s family farms from being broken up and sold on.
Over 80% of land in Hinckley and Bosworth is used for agricultural purposes, and the new changes will have a devastating impact on family farming in Leicestershire. For context, the average working farm is 215 acres, and the average farm valued at around £1 million is 40 acres. The Country Land and Business Association has said that it expects about 70,000 farms to be in scope given the changes.
Farmers are asset rich, but cash poor, with the NFU Director of Policy pointing out that most farms make less than 1% profit at the end of each year. Dr Evans says, “should these changes occur, most farmers could not afford to pay the new rate of tax.”
The National Farmers’ Union, NFU, says the new Government’s policies “raise serious questions about the future of British food security,” with local MP Dr Evans saying “the impact on food security is going to be severe and shocking.”
Farmers across the country have expressed shock at the Government’s announcement. Jeremy Clarkson said farmers “have been shafted today,” with another farmer saying “I now can’t afford to die. If I die, the tax bill will be so great that my children won’t be able to afford to pay it.”
Tom Bradshaw, President of the National Farmers’ Union, added “just because a farm is a valuable asset it does not mean those who work it are wealthy.”
Speaking in the House of Commons on 31st October, the day after the Autumn Budget, Hinckley and Bosworth’s MP raised concerns around the impact this policy change would have on farmers mental health. Farmers and agricultural workers have higher suicide rates than those working in other occupations.
Dr Luke Evans MP sponsored a Parliamentary event for the National Farmers’ Union on rural mental health in June 2023. The event helped to shine a light on a survey by the NFU which found that rising costs was the most frequently cited reason for poor mental health by thousands of respondents.
The GP-turned-MP urged the Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell MP, to ask the Health Secretary to set up a “ring fenced fund for all those farmers who are going to suffer.”
Speaking the day after the Budget, Dr Luke Evans MP said “Farmers today woke up broken and devastated after the announcement yesterday by the Government. You only have to look across social media to see farmers speaking about the impact it will have on generational farming because of the hike in the tax they are going to have to pay.
“Not only on the basis that they are going to have to pay. Farmers are one of the people who suffer the most from mental health, given the problems of having such a tough harvest. This is a concoction that's come together under this Government's making.
“So, I ask [the Leader of the House of Commons] to ask the DEFRA Secretary to make a statement on Monday. And secondly, will she write to the Health Secretary to ensure there is a ring fenced fund for all those farmers who are going to suffer, who are unable to pass on their family farm to the next generation because that impact on food security is going to be severe and shocking.”
