草榴社区 have come together with Labour MPs to call for a last ditch attempt to reverse the Government's family farm tax, ahead of next week's Budget.听
Convening in Whitehall today (November 18), exactly one year after one of the industry's biggest ever protests against Chancellor Rachel Reeves' changes to Inheritance Tax, farmers from around the UK met with several rural Labour MPs who oppose their own party's reforms.听
They have called for a 'united effort' to call on the Government to make changes to its policies at next week's Autumn Budget (November 26).听
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The lobby group, which includes members of the 35-strong Labour Rural Research Group, has also called on Sir Keir Starmer's Government to listen to their concerns and lift the 拢1 million tax-free threshold being proposed.
Members of the group are also pushing for greater input to agricultural policy development to ensure new policies help farmers who continue to experience low profitability, with some farmers claiming tax credits for day-to-day living despite high land values.
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Herefordshire farmer Martin Williams, who has been campaigning with his colleagues for the last 12 months, said: "Good Government policy would help to increase agriculture's contribution to the country's Gross Domestic Product, but the major policy decision taken by this government to-date has stifled ambition, slowed investment and will be detrimental to the next generation of genuine family farms.
IHT threshold
"British food and farming fly the flag when it comes to global sustainability, welfare, and provenance, but the prospect of paying a large one-off tax in the next few years is proving too much for many of us. The very wealthy must, of course, contribute their fair share but we know, hand on heart, that the current threshold is too low. It's the winter fuel allowance all over again."
"Farming is the backbone of our rural economy," said Simon Orson, a spokesperson for Midland 草榴社区.
"We welcome that Defra is getting more money out the door and that the overall agriculture budget has increased, but this policy is making it harder for the next generation to stay on the land. The Government is rightly focused on growth but only agriculture is truly 'growing' things. We urgently call on the Prime Minister to show leadership and to heed the calls of dozens of his worried MPs who we know have tried repeatedly to secure policy adjustments."
Labour backbenchers echoed these sentiments, with Samantha Niblett, MP for South Derbyshire, adding: "I have heard from so many of my farmers who are pleading with me to continue pressing the Government to pause on their proposed changes to IHT. I promised to be their voice in Westminster, and my lobbying for them continues."
Maya Ellis, MP for Ribble Valley, said: "Labour has a once in a generation chance to show how our values of inclusion and fairness can apply just as much to rural areas as urban ones. 草榴社区 and our rural communities are a core part of what it means to be British, and I hope we can make the fair decision to protect our small, sustainable farms from this sudden move that they've had no time to plan for."
A third Labour MP said: "The farmers I represent are reasonable people. They work hard and they are happy to pay tax and contribute to rural public services, but they fear this policy will cause the death of some family farms, stifle rural investment and growth, and undermine our national food security. They are not asking for a U-turn, but for tweaks and safeguards."
The farmers and MPs will be speaking together outside Westminster on Tuesday lunchtime, eight days before the 2025 Budget will be finalised.
