Farmers from Hinckley and Bosworth and North West Leicestershire travelled down to Parliament to meet their local Member of Parliament, Dr Luke Evans, and join the mass protest in Westminster which highlighted the devastating impact of Labour’s changes to Agricultural Property Relief.
In the Autumn Budget 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.
Figures from the Department for Food and Rural Affairs show this could impact as many as 66% of farms, due to increasing land value and simultaneous changes by the Government to Business Property Relief.
The average farm in the UK is 215 acres, and the average farm worth £1 million is 40 acres. These changes will see working farms, many of which make less than 1pc profit per year, hit with bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds overnight. The Government’s changes to Business Property Relief would also mean that livestock, machinery, barns and even the family farmhouse are now all part of the total.
The situation is compounded as the now-Food Secretary and Prime Minister categorically ruled out raising taxes on family farms throughout the General Election campaign. The sudden change has shocked farmers across the UK, with some saying “I can’t afford to die.”
Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Hinckley and Bosworth, said farmers “woke up broken and devastated” after the Budget, and accused the Government of “not listening”.
The National Farmers’ Union, which Dr Evans has worked with on a rural mental health reception in Parliament and his successful ‘Buy British’ Button campaign, organised the rally which saw thousands of farmers – and their tractors – descend on Westminster, including Jeremy Clarkson.
Clarkson, who has become an advocate for farmers, spoke at the rally “About five years ago I started farming and I have come to understand just how unbelievably difficult it is. And complicated and dangerous and cold, very cold, even in the harvest it is cold. And it’s the costs that staggered me.
He said farmers have been “paralysed by a fog of despair over what’s been foisted upon them,” before finishing “I beg of the government to be big, to accept that this was rushed through, it wasn’t thought out and it’s a mistake. That’s the big thing to do, admit it and back down.
Tom Bradshaw, President of the National Farmers’ Union, said “just because a farm is a valuable asset it does not mean those who work it are wealthy.”
A dozen farmers from Hinckley and Bosworth joined Dr Evans in the Houses of Parliament on November 19th to discuss the impact of these policy changes.
One such farmer was Will Oliver, who recently spoke to The Guardian about the impact of changes to Agricultural Property Relief and said “I didn’t think they were going to do it,” before adding “farmers are struggling anyway, and this is going to be another cost for the business.” Concerns have been raised that some farming families would have to sell off fields to pay the inheritance tax bills. “It doesn’t take long before there’s not much farm left,” Oliver added,
Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Hinckley and Bosworth, said “Family farmers across Leicestershire and the country are angry and anxious. The Government's changes will kill off their livelihoods, but the Government is not listening to them.
“It was bittersweet to see so many farmers, including those local to us, at the protest. Farmers often work in freezing temperatures to put food on our shelves, are custodians of the countryside and simply want to pass this privilege to their children.
“Despite farmers making less than 1pc profit per year, the Government is trying to squeeze every last penny from them. I will continue to fight for our farmers and reiterate the damage this policy will have on our nation’s food security.”
