WEST WORCESTERSHIRE MP Dame Harriett Baldwin has repeated her support for farmers after a series of blows in this week’s Budget.
Labour’s first budget in more than 14 years, which released yesterday (Wednesday, October 30), announced detrimental changes to how farm assets are inherited and made no mention of support schemes for farmers in the industry.
After £1m, farming assets inherited will attract inheritance tax of 20 per cent from April 2026, a far cry from the Agricultural Property Relief offered to farmers which has helped for years in enabling the smooth transition of farmland and assets from generation to generation.
Dame Harriett said: “I have always been a friend of the farming community and this week’s Budget shows just how little regard the Labour party has for those who produce the food on our tables.
“Once again, we see the politics of envy in action as the Government seeks to strip assets from families who have managed the land for many generations.
“I’ve already heard clear feedback from farmers about the shock they feel about this latest blow to their livelihoods. Food security is a matter of huge national importance and yet the word ‘farm’ only made it into the budget six times.
“I plan to share my concerns with the relevant Minister and I am meeting with local farmers representatives shortly where I am sure this matter will be discussed at length.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the changes to inheritance tax affecting farmers will ‘protect small family farms, with three quarters of claims unaffected by the changes’.
National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw said: “This Budget not only threatens family farms but will also make producing food more expensive.
“The shameless breaking of those promises on Agricultural Property Relief will snatch away much of the next generation’s ability to carry on producing British food, plan for the future and shepherd the environment.”
