SEVERAL local farmers in our communities have made the trip up to London today November 19 to join their peers in protests against government plans to change the rules on agricultural inheritance tax. A number of them are also due to meet with their local MPs to discuss the situation.

The issue:

Many farmers are concerned that plans announced in the recent budget to amend relief for farmers on inheritance tax are going to make their livelihoods even more unsustainable. The government proposal calls for changes in tax relief with only the first £1 million of any farming business to be exempt from such tax. After that threshold is crossed, farms would pay 20 percent inheritance tax rather than the standard 40%.

When? The new measures would come into effect April 6 2026.

Government line: 

The government is better targeting these reliefs to make them fairer, protecting small family farms.  

The latest figures show that the top 7% (the largest 117 claims) account for 40% of the total value of agricultural property relief. This costs the taxpayer £219 million.

"It is not fair for a very small number of claimants each year to claim such a significant amount of relief, when this money could better be used to fund our public services," according to the gov.uk website.

Additional tax relief would take the £1m figure closer to £3m before any tax is paid, the government says. 

Farmer concerns:

Farmers worry that such proposals will affect far larger amounts of family farms than the government is claiming.

While the government has said only about 27% of farms will be affected, farmers say that figure is closer to two-thirds.

“There’s still time for the government to accept they’ve got this wrong, and my message to ministers is that they should do the right thing and reverse this awful Family Farm Tax," National Farmers Union president Tom Bradshaw has said.

Head on over to our sister site www.southwestfarmer.co.uk for updates and a live blog on the events of today.