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The UK’s food security and the future of farming lies in Rachel Reeves’ hands, a leading MP has said as a committee called on the government to delay farm inheritance tax changes.
The environment, food and rural affairs (EFRA) committee has released a report calling on the government to delay the reforms for a year until April 2027.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the October budget farmers would no longer be allowed to claim inheritance tax relief for farms worth more than £1m from April 2026.
The move prompted multiple protests in Westminster by farmers who said it will threaten the future of thousands of multi-generational family farms.
The EFRA committee, made up of seven Labour MPs and four Lib Dem and Tory MPs, said a pause in the implementation would “allow for better formulation of tax policy and provide the government with an opportunity to convey a positive long-term vision for farming”.
A delay would also protect vulnerable farmers who would have “more time to seek appropriate professional advice”, the MPs said.
The MPs raised concerns the change was announced “without adequate consultation, impact assessment or affordability assessment”, leaving the impact on farms and food security “disputed and unclear”.
They said it risks producing “unintended consequences” and threatens to “affect the most vulnerable”.
The MPs have called on the government to consider alternative reforms.
Read more:
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Chair of the EFRA Committee Alistair Carmichael said the government should pause and reconsider the farmers’ inheritance tax changes
Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem chair of the committee, told Sky News: “There is a need for…
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