Farmers descended on a major conference in Oxford as the Environment Secretary gave her speech.
Farmers descended on the Oxford Farming Conference (Image: PA)
Labour has been warned the row over its inheritance tax raid on farmers “isn’t over by a long shot” amid a fresh protest today. Farmers staged a noisy demonstration sounding their tractor horns as Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds gave a speech at an agricultural conference in Oxford.
The Cabinet minister ruled out further concessions to the so-called family farm tax after the threshold was increased from £1 million to £2.5 million last month. But farmers protesting outside the venue insisted the changes to the controversial policy do not go far enough.
Dan Willis, Newbury, West Berkshire, 50, warned the reversal still does not allow time for the elderly to plan ahead.
He said: “I farm in partnership with my mother who’s in her 80s. Really and truly she doesn’t have the time to pass it down. The likelihood of living the next seven years is going to be tough so it’s put her right in the firing line.
“In this day in modern agriculture what does £2.5 million buy? A viable arable farm has probably got £3 million worth of machinery. It’s nowhere near enough, the policy is totally flawed. I think the policy should be done away with completely on working farmers.”
He added: “Hopefully our message is loud and clear, this isn’t over by a long shot.”
James Wright, from Somerset, said: “Labour want to reset their relationship with the countryside but the farmers here want elderly farmers who can’t do tax planning to be protected.
“Emma Reynolds has dismissed their concerns and said there will be no further concessions. That won’t satisfy those working to protect their family farms.”
Farmers sounded their tractor horns outside the venue (Image: PA)
Caroline Graham, a widowed farmer from Thatcher, West Berkshire, warned the U-turn “hasn’t sorted the issue for most family farmers” and called for the policy to be scrapped.
She added: “I’ve a new grandchild from my son and he will want to hand the farm over to him.”
When asked at the Oxford Farming Conference if farmers were right to continue to push for further inheritance tax concessions, Ms Reynolds replied: “That’s it, I’m afraid.”
As farmers blared their tractor horns, she added: “May I also say, with the greatest respect to those outside, it’s the people in this room who have engaged with us constructively, and relatively quietly, that have had an influence on this process, and not the people sounding their horns.”
Just before Christmas, the Government announced it was raising the threshold to £2.5 million following months of protests over the original plans unveiled in 2024.
Critics have warned the proposals could spell the end for family farms across the country, while there are fears elderly farmers are being pushed to the brink of suicide before the changes come into force next April.
The Government has insisted the changes, which are expected to bring in around £500 million a year for the Treasury, will not affect the majority of farms.
The Daily Express is campaigning for a full U-turn with our Save Britain’s Family Farm crusade.
