‘Labour’s farming U-turn is a smokescreen and I will not cease preventing’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

A 40-year-old farmer from Northamptonshire says Labour’s climbdown from plans to levy inheritance tax on farms price over £1million will solely defend him within the “short term” and betrays a lack of know-how of the core points damaging the trade. The watered-down coverage will see the brink for 100% reduction on qualifying agricultural property rise to £2.5 million in April, with {couples} in a position to go on as much as £5million price of property with out inheritance tax by combining their allowances.

Above the allowance, farmers will get 50% asset reduction and pay a decreased fee of as much as 20%, as a substitute of the usual 40%. The variety of farms going through inheritance may even be decreased from roughly 2,000 to round 1,100, in response to the Government. Philip Weston, whose household has owned Hartwell Park Farm in Northamptonshire since 1820, stated the change will “help him a lot” initially, however in the end solely delay the monetary blow for a couple of years, when rising land worth and diversification prices “inevitably push us and many others back into the danger zone”.

Mr Weston’s father died three years in the past, and he’s now in a enterprise partnership together with his mom. He has spent “millions” on authorized recommendation about inheriting after her loss of life, and was advised he could be handed a tax invoice of £200,000, payable as £20,000 a yr over a decade.

“Any concession is better than nothing, but inheritance tax will still affect lots of family farms, especially in the longer term,” he advised the Express. “It’s being celebrated as a victory for farmers, but costs are continuing to rise, and more people are converting or adding businesses onto their land as a result, which, alongside inflation, will push the asset value up.

Land value has outpaced farm profits for years, for reasons including a lack of supply regulation for supermarkets and the basis of calculations on overall market value rather than productive use.

Mr Weston is among the farmers who have called for the inheritance tax levy – which was introduced after years of exemption to raise money for public services – to be scrapped entirely, warning that it could deal an existential blow to the businesses that prop up the UK’s food security. The Daily Express’s Save Britain’s Family Farms crusade has also demanded that Chancellor Rachel Reeves row back on her tax raid, announced in last year’s budget.

As well as signalling only a “partial” backtrack, Labour’s U-turn on its earlier dogged dedication to the controversial plans is a sign that the federal government can’t be trusted to introduce robust and sturdy protections for an trade already buckling underneath strain, he stated.

“This U-turn proves that everyone who thought they were lying about the impact of this from the beginning was right,” he added. “It also shows a complete lack of resolve. They said they weren’t going to get rid of it or change it, and now they have. We have no idea what they’re going to do next.

“Farming is a business that absolutely relies on long-term planning, but everything Keir Starmer does seems reactionary, not like it’s based in real analysis and understanding.”

“The industry is at a critical point,” Mr Weston continued. “Payments for produce are horrendously low, and growing costs are horrendously high. This announcement is a smokescreen to make it look like the government is actively trying to help us – but they’re not. That’s why we have to keep fighting.”

The 40-year-old has two youngsters who turned “the reason for everything I do at the farm” after his father and position mannequin handed away, and had hopes of conserving it within the household and preserving the talents which were handed down from technology to technology over tons of of years.

“When the inheritance tax change was announced, it seemed like everything I’d done had been for nothing,” he stated. “So what’s my incentive to exit and do all these jobs and work exhausting for a greater yield now? I’d make more cash promoting all my tools and renting my sheds out for storage.

“But in the event you try this, you’ll by no means have the ability to get again into farming. Investing within the equipment alone could be completely not possible. Once household farms are gone, they’re gone. And if I can’t make a farm that’s been right here since 1820 work, how is somebody who’s eager about going into the job now going to do it?”

Fears of losing inheritance tax relief, alongside wider economic factors, saw a surge in UK farm closures in the year to June 2025, with a record 6,365 agriculture, forestry and fishing businesses ceasing trading, the highest number since records began in 2017.

Labour’s concession follows the release of a long-awaited review into farm profitability, which recommended a “new deal” for the sector, to recognise the true costs of producing food and delivering for the environment.

Baroness Minette Batters, former head of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said the imposition of inheritance tax on farms was the single biggest issue raised by respondents in relation to farming viability.

Uncertainty over the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which forms the main part of the post-Brexit environmental land management scheme for agricultural payments, and which has been suspended since March, was also an ongoing concern.

NFU President Tom Bradshaw stated the coverage modification could be a “huge relief to many” and “greatly” scale back the tax burden for numerous household farms. “I am thankful common sense has prevailed and the government has listened,” he stated.

But Clive Pinton, head of wills, belief and tax at Aaron and Partners, warned that it shouldn’t be seen as an “all-clear” for the sector. “This is welcome news for farmers across the country who otherwise would have faced a significant and sudden inheritance tax burden, and the increased £2.5 million threshold will offer some protection to smaller farming businesses,” he stated.

“However, this should not be seen as an all-clear. Many farming estates will still fall within scope of the changes, often without owners realising it. Land and property values have risen sharply in recent years, meaning assets can exceed the new threshold far more easily than expected.

“It is therefore vital that farmers seek early specialist legal advice and carry out a full review of their assets and estate structure. Without a proper audit, there is a real risk that families could face an unexpected tax liability at an already difficult time. Planning now is essential to avoid unpleasant surprises later.”

Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch additionally claimed the “fight isn’t finished” after the announcement on Tuesday, and Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ atmosphere, meals and rural affairs spokesperson, referred to as on Labour to scrap the “unfair tax in full”, warning that “many family farms still find themselves financially crippled and barely making the minimum wage”.

Environment secretary Emma Reynolds stated: “Farmers are at the heart of our food security and environmental stewardship, and I am determined to work with them to secure a profitable future for British farming.

“We have listened closely to farmers across the country and we are making changes to protect more ordinary family farms. It is only right that larger estates contribute more, while we back the farms and trading businesses that are the backbone of Britain’s rural communities.”