𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Keir Starmer has U-turned on his inheritance tax raid on farmers following mass protests by rural communities.

This is a partial victory for the Express’s Save Britain’s Family Farms Crusade.

Under the original plan unveiled by Rachel Reeves in the 2024 Budget, farmers faced paying IHT at a 20% rate on agricultural property and land worth more than £1million from April.

But the government on Tuesday lifted that threshold to £2.5million, admitting that it had acted after it “listened to concerns of the farming community”.

National Farmers Union President Tom Bradshaw said: “We have spent the past 14 months campaigning and lobbying to try and mitigate the worst impacts of the proposals.

“After it became clear that this policy wasn’t going anywhere, we have focused our campaign to mitigate the worst of its impacts for the majority. Today’s announcement, which sees the tax threshold raised from £1m to £2.5m, will come as a huge relief to many. While there is still tax to pay, this will greatly reduce that tax burden for many family farms, those working people of the countryside.

“Changes to Agriculture Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) announced in last year’s Budget came as a huge shock to the farming community. Until that moment, the best tax planning advice was to hold on to your farm until death and pass it on to the next generation who could continue to run a viable farming, food producing business.”

He added: “I am thankful common sense has prevailed and government has listened.”

Farmers across the country have staged mass protests following the Chancellor’s sudden announcement of the IHT change last October.

Growers, who are asset rich but cash poor, had insisted they would need to sell off land to foot the tax bill.

Gavin Lane, president of the Country Land and Business Association, said: “This change will come as an enormous relief to thousands of family farms across the country who faced seeing their businesses taxed out of existence. The Government deserves credit for recognising the flaws in the original policy and changing course.

“However, 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.

“On that basis, we thank Ministers for the constructive dialogue, we look forward to working in partnership to grow the rural economy, whilst continuing to call for these reforms to be scrapped entirely.”

The Daily Express has been campaiging on the issue with dozens of articles since the announcement.

Farmer Gareth Wyn Jones said: “Finally, the government is listening to the farmers and that should help. I still think the threshold should be higher, but it’s all positive and going in the right direction.”

Sir Keir’s rural backbench MPs have also become increasingly furious at the move, which broke a promise made by former Environment Secretary Steve Reed while in Opposition.

Labour MP Henry Tuffnell, a vocal critic of the original tax grab, said: “I’m really pleased that the government has listened and that we’ve got to a much better place.”