A petition signed by more than 270,000 members of the public has been handed in to 10 Downing Street by NFU President Tom Bradshaw and NFU Cymru President Aled Jones, on behalf of the four UK farming unions, urging government to ditch its plans to remove agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR).
The NFU says that after decades of tightening margins, record inflation, increased production costs and extreme weather, many farmers and growers are at breaking point and simply will not be able to afford the increased tax bill they will now face.
Evidence from the NFU, in consultation with former Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) economists to inform analysis of the impacts of APR reforms on commercial family farms, found that up to 75 per cent of working farms could be affected, with some facing tax bills of £100,000s.
Just this week, the OBR produced a new report saying that government changes to inheritance tax (IHT) on farms will likely leave elderly farmers horribly exposed, with no time to manage their way through the new policy.
Major UK supermarkets – Morrisons, Tesco, Co-op, Lidl, Asda, Ocado, Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s – have also now publicly stated their shared concerns over the government’s proposed changes to inheritance tax.
With the possible loss of farm businesses as a result of this tax change, alongside the increases in employment costs also announced in the Budget, there is a risk to UK food production.
Last weekend, events co-ordinated by the NFU, NFU Cymru, NFU Scotland and Ulster Farmers’ Union, took place across the UK as part of a National Day of Unity. Farmers gathered in towns and cities to thank the British public for their support in this campaign.
In a statement, the four Presidents of the UK farming unions said, “The public in huge numbers, more than 270,000, have signed this family farm tax petition expressing their anger and frustration at the utter contempt shown by the government for the people who produce the nation’s food.
“It gives us great strength to know that the public are backing British farming at this critical moment in time. The industry is not taking this lying down. The government has woken a sleeping giant, as our mass lobby of MPs in Westminster and the farmer led rally in Whitehall have demonstrated.
“Government must take action. We’re asking the Chancellor to listen to farmers and meet with us to hear and fully understand our very real concerns.”