A petition with over 270,000 signatures has been handed in to No. 10 Downing Street by National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president, Tom Bradshaw and NFU Cymru president Aled Jones, on behalf of the four UK farming unions, urging the government to scrap the new family farm inheritance tax.
The move forms part of the farming organisations’ collective efforts to campaign against the proposed changes to agriculture property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) , as introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in last October’s budget.
The petition and a letter was handed into the prime minister’s residence on Friday, January 24, a day before the ‘national day of unity’ (January 25), which saw coordinated mass tractor rallies converge across the UK in protest against the new inheritance tax structures.
Due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of Storm Éowyn over the weekend, the presidents of NFU Scotland and the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) were not able to be in attendance to hand over the petition with their counterparts, as originally planned.
Petition
In a joint statement, the four presidents of the UK farming unions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – Tom Bradshaw, Aled Jones, Martin Kennedy and William Irvine – 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.
“We will continue fighting because this is not just about our farms, but our families, our future and your food.
“The government has woken a sleeping giant, as our mass lobby of MPs in Westminster and farmer led rally in Whitehall have demonstrated.”
According to the NFU, 75% of family farms will be impacted by the proposed new tax reforms, with some farmers potentially facing tax bills running into “hundred of thousands of pounds”.
Economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which oversees government fiscal policies, consolidated the NFU’s claims in a new report published last week (January 22), indicating that the tax changes will leave elderly farmers in a particularly vulnerable position.
The report highlighted how little time older farmers will have to restructure their affairs in advance of the inaction of the new tax structures in April.
The OBR also stated that it is “highly uncertain” whether the new inheritance tax measures will even achieve the treasury’s reported goal of £500 million.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said that the report confirmed what the NFU has “repeatedly warned” of since the autumn budget was unveiled – that it will be older farmers who will be hardest hit by what he described, was the government’s “misguided” family farm tax.
“One minute they were advised to keep their farms until death to pass them on to the next generation, the next they’re left knowing that if they live beyond April 2026 when the measures come in, their children may have to break up or sell the farm.
“What an appalling position to put elderly people in and, given the OBR says it’s highly uncertain it will raise the expected amount of money either, surely it is time for ministers to accept this policy needs the proper consultation it never had?” Bradshaw said.
