𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

On Tuesday, the Government announced that it will be making partial changes to the family farm tax. The changes – raising the threshold for Agricultural Property and Business Property Relief from £1million to £2.5million – are a step in the right direction.

The announcement did come as a surprise, given the months of unnecessary pain and suffering caused by this policy. It’s been a difficult 24 hours for the Government, with its animal welfare strategy backfiring and being met with criticism that it risks undercutting British farmers in favour of lower-quality imports. Since the family farm tax was announced in November last year, the Government has faced enormous criticism and mass protests, with farmers descending on Whitehall from all over the country.

The Daily Express has been a leader in the campaign to scrap the hated farm tax, regularly highlighting the plight of food growers across the nation who are fearing for their livelihoods.

Over the past year, far from rowing back, the Government doubled down on it.

We even saw Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer claim that voters could choose between a stable NHS or inheritance tax breaks for farmers. The Government continued to stick to its policy, even when analysis revealed that the family farm tax would cost the Treasury more money than it would make. HMRC patted itself on the back, even giving a special award to the civil servant behind the tax.

A few weeks ago, the vast majority of Labour MPs voted for the Budget motion on inheritance tax for farmers. Some abstained, and the one Labour MP who bravely voted against it – Markus Campbell-Savours, Penrith and Solway – was brutally punished, having the party whip removed. Mr Campbell-Savours is owed a public apology from the Prime Minister, as are our farmers.

With other government policies and plans threatening the future of village pubs, limiting shotgun ownership and banning trail hunting – all of which will devastate the rural economy – it is clear why there is a growing perception that the Government is picking a war with the countryside.

It seems that Starmer has finally realised that that justifiable label is toxic. Many might rightly wonder why on earth it has taken so long for this to happen – but it is definitely a welcome development.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether the Government will learn the fundamental lesson of this policy debacle, which is that it needs to work with the rural community – not legislate against it.

The Government has a very long way to go to rebuild trust, and only time will tell whether this is the end of the “war on the countryside”.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher is director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance