The environment secretary’s speech to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference was interrupted by protesters who remain angry over the decision to impose inheritance tax on farms.
Steve Reed unveiled a series of policy sweeteners designed to ease tension with the farming community over the policy, but was met with muted applause and a hostile audience.
Shortly after beginning his speech, Mr Reed was confronted by protesters holding banners that were thought to be about the government’s plan to force farmers to pay 20% inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m from April 2026, when they were previously exempt.
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Mr Reed said he understood “the strength of feeling in the room” but could not “give the answer” the audience wanted on inheritance – which is that the government should scrap the policy.
“I’m sorry, it’s a decision that we have had to take,” he said.
Among the raft of measures unveiled by Mr Reed was a long-called-for extension of the seasonal worker visa programme by five years to boost profits for farmers.
He also announced £30m to increase payment rates in higher-level stewardship schemes, new requirements for government catering contracts to back British produce and a multimillion-pound investment in technology strengthening controls on animal disease and protecting farmers in trade deals.
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But the announcements were overshadowed by palpable anger at the inheritance tax policy, which NFU President Tom Bradshaw branded “cruel” and “morally wrong”.
He said older farmers “are now facing that very real dilemma that unless they die before April 2026, their families will face a family farm tax they simply cannot afford to pay”.
“What a cruel position to put elderly people in by no way of warning, by way of a broken promise,” he…
