Will inheritance tax cause the sun to set on family farms? (Image: Pixabay - by dendoktoor)
Britain's food security is at risk due to Labour’s inheritance tax raid on farmers, Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins has warned.
She says that the “family farm tax” could push farmers to sell off precious agricultural land, which could then be used for solar panels.
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Ms Atkins claims the tax change – which means families will have to pay 20 per cent inheritance tax on agricultural land and assets after the first ￡1million – could “decimate” food security. A top concern is that farming must sell off large chunks of their land to pay this bill.
Ms Atkins said: “Food security is national security. Yet instead of supporting domestic food production, Labour seems to be on a mission to decimate the very businesses that underpin it.
“Their family farm tax will see farms split up and sold off, with no guarantee that land will continue to be used for food production. On top of this tax, Labour are whacking businesses with a national insurance hike, they have suspended grants to farmers that are vital to allowing them to invest, and they are making it easier to concrete over the best agricultural land.”
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She further warned that without a strong farming sector, people will not be able to eat high-quality food at affordable prices.
“Labour has presented a Budget that will decimate British farming, and they are increasingly showing themselves to be the single greatest threat to food security that this country faces,” she said.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union, said farmers have been left “reeling” and “many will be faced with a tax bill of millions”.
He said: “Some will be forced to sell all or part of their farm to raise the funds. These are the working people of our countryside, the majority of them working for little profit but happy in the knowledge their life’s work will mean they can pass the farm on to the next generation.
“This tax threatens to change all that. It threatens our food security, and with the compounded impact of National Insurance and National Living Wage changes, it threatens to push up food prices for consumers.”
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Mo Metcalf-Fisher of the Countryside Alliance agreed, saying: “As a result of the Budget, many farming families are having to have really difficult discussions about the future, which is truly devastating. If we lose these farms, there’s no guarantee that the land sold off will continue to be farmed by new buyers.
“The more farming land lost, the more our ability to produce our own food to feed our citizens is hampered, meaning we become more reliant on foreign markets. Given the global political situation, I think that is incredibly unwise, and it’s yet another reason why Rachel Reeves needs to think again.”
A Labour spokesman said the Conservatives had “forced” more than 12,000 farmers and agricultural enterprises out of business. He said the Tories had “sold farmers out” in trade deals while the present Government was “investing ￡5 billion into farming over the next two years”.