As many of you know, the Labour Government announced in the 2024 Budget its intention to make changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR), often called the Family Farm and Family Business Taxes, affecting working family farms and, ultimately, creating jeopardy for our food security.
Farmers and their families understandably felt incredibly betrayed – in fact, they feel flat out lied to by this Labour Party and those who are now Government Ministers when they said they would not change the tax regime on family farms. Many of our local farming families are continuing to greatly suffer from this Labour Government's other policies too, including the sudden closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, the increases to employers' National Insurance payments, and the cuts to delinked payments, all negatively impacting cashflow.
Family farms and tenant farms are an intrinsic part of our national identity and our national story, 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 across the Conservative Party feel the same.
Like so many people here in our constituency and around the country, I believe these taxes are cruel and immoral, and are already having a devastating impact on our farmers. They will push working farms to the brink, damage our food supply and security and hurt the people who work long hours to feed the country.
It is why, since first announced, my colleagues and I have campaigned on their behalf - we have maintained constant pressure against this taxes and voted against them on six occasions. In five of these votes, not a single Labour MP voted to axe this new tax. Instead, they chose party politics and, sadly, the attacks on the countryside keep coming. They simply do not understand British food security, our working farms or the wider countryside and it’s clear they do not wish to. In the other vote, only one Labour MP voted against the tax – for which he was suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party. You can read my statement written in the heat of the debate towards the end of 2025 here:
Mims Davies MP Statement on the Family Farm Tax | Mims Davies
Just before Christmas, under immense pressure, the Government snuck out a partial U-turn to their Family Farm and Family Business Tax. This U-turn increases the threshold at which these farms and businesses begin paying the taxes, which means many family farms will, thankfully, either be exempt from the tax or will have their bill substantially reduced. This means some farmers will be able to pass their holdings onto the next generation and continue to grow food for the country.
This change is incredibly welcome for those affected and is a huge win for the many thousands of campaigners who have spent the last 14 months protesting, signing petitions and engaging with MPs. It happened because farmers, industry leaders and Conservative MPs worked together to force this Government to back down.
However, like many across the sector and the rural communities, I do not think their U-turn goes nearly far enough. As the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), President Gavin Lane, states “this announcement only limits the damage – it doesn't eradicate it entirely. Many family businesses will own enough expensive machinery and land to be valued above the threshold yet still operate on such narrow profit margins that this tax burden remains unaffordable.”
Applying this significant, new inheritance tax to family farms and businesses remains intrinsically wrong and its introduction at any level prevents crucial investment, damages growth and food supply chains and investment. The rational response by many family businesses will be to not make that extra hire or buy new equipment. While the APR and BRP changes have now come into effect, I will continue to call for the Family Farm and Family Business Taxes to be reversed and axed entirely as part of Labour’s wider assault on British farmers and rural communities. I am pleased the Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP and the Conservative party have pledged to repeal Labour’s Family Farm Tax when we are re-elected to government.
Family farms and family businesses are the backbone of our economy, and the Labour Government should be backing them, not be clobbering them with yet more taxes stifling investment and creating instability. The attacks on working farms, the countryside, rural communities and the rural way of life must stop.
Please do be assured that my colleagues and I will continue to back our farmers - they need our backing for their businesses, local working farms and their families. More widely, we will continue to work to support our rural communities and the rural and wider economy that rests and relies on their success.
Meanwhile you may be interested in reading:
Mims Davies MP Statement on Trail Hunting | Mims Davies
Mims Davies MP Statement on the Proposed Firearms Licensing Reform | Mims Davies
