Family farms and tenant farms are an intrinsic part of our national identity and I have always worked to actively support our farmers who are the backbone of the rural economy as well as stewards of the British countryside. As many of you are aware, I come from a family with a strong farming background myself and am proud to represent these hard-working men, women and families, especially in my constituency. I know my colleagues in the Conservative Party feel the same.
I was, and remain, extremely concerned by the Labour Government’s announcement in the last Budget to make changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) which is being referred to as the Family Farm Tax. Their intransigence on this matter beggars belief.
The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch was unequivocal when she said, in November 24,
‘This policy is cruel, it is unfair, and it is going to destroy farming as we know it.
And that is why we will at the very first opportunity reverse the family farms tax.
We know the burden that farmers are carrying. A lot of people think that farming is just a business. It is not just a business. It is a way of life. It is about family. It is about the land. It is about the environment. It is about our food. We cannot survive without you.
I want you to know that we have your backs.’
There is no doubt this Labour Government’s family farm tax is going to be devastating for the local farmers here in East Grinstead, Uckfield and the villages, let alone for the thousands of farms beyond our constituency. Families that have farmed for generations will have to sell up.
Many people in this constituency have contacted me to share their deep dismay at this attack on the British farming community. I have also heard from many local farmers directly on the personal toll this is taking on their families so I was glad to join with them in solidarity in November and again in February, for the Farmers Rally in Westminster to urge the Government to listen, and at further events in Westminster.
Mims Davies MP joins Farmers in Parliament Square | Mims Davies
In my speech on the second day of that Budget Debate last year, I said,
I recently read out in Westminster Hall the words of a local farmer, whose concerns were purely about business confidence at that point. The same farmer wrote to me again this week—I remind the House that farmers are working people, and they work 365 days and 52 weeks a year—to say:
“My family’s farm and estate are currently economically viable but there is no chance that they would ever produce sufficient cash flow to make it possible for us to cover any significant amounts of inheritance tax. If we are struck by excessive taxation we will no longer be able to produce 7,000,000 litres of milk per annum or timber for the nation. The heritage of 200 years could be gone.”
I voted on 4th December in support of the Official Opposition’s motion calling for a reverse to this vindictive tax and have also tabled several Parliamentary questions to Defra on this issue so I can assure you, I along with my colleagues, are fully committed to this fight to save our farming communities.
The changes to APR and BPR will mean that from 6 April 2026, the full 100 per cent relief from inheritance tax will be restricted to the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property. Above this amount, farmers will pay inheritance tax at 20 per cent. The Government also announced in the Budget a number of measures which will negatively impact farming and rural communities such as speeding up the delinking of payments, introducing a fertiliser tax and changes to APR and BPR.
Farming organisations including the National Farmers Union, Countryside Alliance, Tenant Farmers Association and The Country Land and Business Association have all continued to raise serious concerns about the harm this will cause to family farms and tenant farmers.
The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers has also recently reported that up to 75,000 individual owners of farming businesses could expect to be affected over the coming generation, before even considering the effect of inflation due to this change. That is the equivalent of five times the Government’s figure of 500 affected for the single year of 2026/27. They go on to say that “even allowing for almost any plausible margin of error, it is reasonable for large numbers of farmers to expect to be adversely affected.”
No one should be under any illusion these changes will see family farms split up and sold off. Families will lose their livelihoods and homes and, unbelievably, there is no guarantee land sold will be used to grow food risking food prices increases, more food being imported, and the countryside being concreted over.
In the Future of Farming debate, David Mundell MP (Conservative) pointed out,
‘Given the value of land, it is being bought up by private equity firms and pension funds for use in industrial tree production or solar farms. Land is lost to food production as a result of such developments.’
You may be interested in reading the transcript from this debate on the Future of Farming held on the 13th of March here: Farming - Hansard - UK Parliament
Sadly, I agreed with the words of my colleague Dr Caroline Johnson MP when she said,
‘This is a debate on the future of farming. Many farmers in my constituency feel that, thanks to this Labour Government, they have no future in farming.’
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Economic and planning policies: Impact on farming and rural communities - House of Lords Library
Even before coming into force, we have seen the Family Farm Tax already causing some farms to close, impacting inflation and hitting our food prices. This could be stopped if the Labour Government chose to think again, as my colleagues and I have been urging them to do.
Unfortunately, the Government is yet to listen to the rural community and has refused to change course on this. It was extremely disappointing that, when the Opposition forced a vote on the Family Farm Tax, not one single Labour Member of Parliament voted to support farmers or rural communities. Instead, they chose party politics and, sadly, the attacks on the countryside keep coming. They simply do not understand British farming or the countryside.
My Conservative colleagues and I will continue to hold this Labour Government to account for their poor policy choices and I hope we will see a change in this policy area.
