Heartbroken farmers have been pushed to the brink of suicide by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid, Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins has warned. Farmers say their communities face a mental health crisis as they urge the Government to u-turn on the planned extension of the “death tax”.

Ms Atkins said she was told by a tearful farmer: “If there was a rope in the corner of this room I would use it.”

Concern at the tax changes coming into force from April next year is so great, she added, that some elderly farmers are asking “whether their family can afford for them to live beyond April”.

Ms Reeves’s shock decision means inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1million will be liable for a 20% tax charge. The Express has launched the Save Britain’s Family Farms crusade in protest at the punitive policy.

Ms Atkins said: “The countryside just feels an enormous sense of betrayal by this Government.”

‘I don’t think we’ve ever, ever been in this situation where our industry has felt so low’

Gareth Wyn Jones – whose family have farmed for more than three centuries in North Wales – described the plight of farmers as “devastating”.

He warned: “I have never ever been in a situation where we have had so many people in dire straits…. We’re on our knees and there’s this constant barrage of red tape and more taxes, more problems.”

Warning of the anguish endured in the farming community, he said: “I think we’re on the tip of a massive, massive iceberg and we are going to see a lot more losses within the industry, which is heartbreaking… I’m thinking ‘How have we come to this situation?’”

Mr Jones cautioned that the inheritance tax charge could force farmers to put up prices.

He said: “Who’s going to suffer? It’s going to be the poorer people in society who aren’t going to be able to afford the healthy good food that the British farmer has been producing for years.”

Ben Aveling, a farmer from Northamptonshire, said it felt as if there had been a succession of “attacks” on farming. There is anger at the unexpected closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which has supported farmers in environmental work.

He said: “Being a farmer in 2025 is a test of grit and determination… Every day as a farmer brings new challenges which is nothing new but with the current government you’re never sure what today will bring.

“This takes a terrible toll on the farmer’s mental health.”

Mo Metcalf-Fisher of the Countryside Alliance warned: “Mental health has long been a hidden crisis in the countryside, particularly within the farming community. Lack of mental healthcare services, coupled with isolation and the demands of the job can cause considerable stress.

“The recent announcements in relation to the family farm tax will no doubt have heightened those anxieties for some. It is vital we break down the barriers between Whitehall and the countryside and prioritise policies that deliver for farmers and the rural community, not those that just do things to them.

“Labour’s brief flirtation with rural voters looks as though it ended with the family farm tax. If they ever want to even think about reviving that relationship, they need to urgently reset their priorities for the countryside.”

A Government spokesperson said: “Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast, which is why we are investing a record £5billion into farming. Former NFU president Baroness Minette Batters has also been appointed to recommend new reforms to boost farmers profits.

“We are tackling the mental health crisis in our farming communities by investing billions of pounds and recruiting 8,500 mental health professionals across the NHS.”

The Government stresses that tax charges can be paid in instalments over 10 years interest-free. It promises an “improved” Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme and says it has committed £110million in farming grants to improve productivity.

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Andrew RT Davies, a farmer in the Vale of Glamorgan and former leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, said the prospect of having to pay the inheritance tax charges was a “massive concern” and a source of “stress and anxiety”. He warned it would endanger food security and discourage investment in farms.

He said: “You can see it written on people’s faces because family farms are the bedrock of the agricultural industry and the ability to pass growing, vibrant businesses through families is part of [its] lifeblood. We have enough things to put up with as it is, but now this betrayal by the Labour Government of the agricultural community really does put food security at risk…

“Every investment you make is trying to secure [the farm] for the next generation and now every investment you make, the taxman is going to take his fair slug of cash of you, so actually it’s a disincentive to invest in your business. And when food security is such a big issue for all governments around the globe, our Government is betraying the agricultural industry and making business decisions be put off so we don’t invest to secure the future.”

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