Andy Burnham is facing renewed pressure from within Labour to scrap the government’s controversial “Family Farm Tax”, after a party MP called on the Prime Minister to abandon the policy and deliver a fresh package of measures to support rural businesses.
Markus Campbell-Savours, Labour MP for Penrith and Solway, has urged Downing Street to make a further U-turn on agricultural property relief, reconsider its fertiliser tax and accelerate long-awaited plans to improve farm profitability.
His intervention comes months after he was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party for opposing the government over the tax. He was readmitted in March after serving a four-month suspension.
Campbell-Savours voted against the government’s position last year and has now renewed his criticism following Burnham’s speech at the Labour conference, which made no reference to rural England.
Speaking to the News & Star, he said: “It is time we pulled the stops out. As a starter for 10, the Government must deliver on its farm profitability plans, reconsider the fertiliser tax, but also deliver one final U-turn and scrap its plans to abolish agricultural property relief.”
The intervention adds to growing unease among Labour figures over the party’s relationship with farmers and rural communities.
Lord Blunkett, a Labour grandee who has been described as a mentor to the Prime Minister, criticised the policy last month, calling the tax a “mistake”.
Former farming minister Daniel Zeichner subsequently said Labour should never have introduced the measure and warned the party to “be careful about picking fights with the countryside.”
The government partially amended the policy last December by increasing the threshold at which agricultural property becomes subject to inheritance tax. But opponents argue the changes have not removed uncertainty for family-owned farms and rural businesses.
The Country Land and Business Association said recently that nearly nine in 10 farming and rural family businesses had frozen investment because of the policy.
Its survey of 700 rural businesses found that 85 per cent believed the current £2.5mn allowance would be insufficient to cover the value of their operation.
Campaigners have seized on the figures to demand a broader change in the government’s approach to rural policy.
The Countryside Alliance has called for a “rural reset”, identifying at least 27 government policies since 2024 that it argues have harmed rural communities. Its list includes the Family Farm Tax, increases in National Insurance, proposed restrictions affecting racing and shooting, and the ban on trail hunting.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance, said: “It’s clear to many rural MPs that farmers are having a tough time and the hated family farm tax is very much the elephant in the room, impacting decisions they make about the future. We welcome this move and hope it will encourage others in the Government to do the same.
“If the Government wants to show it’s serious about resetting its relationship with the countryside, abolishing this blatant wrong would be a welcome start. With so many Government policies threatening rural communities, it would send a clear message that the new Government will be departing from the harmful policies of the past and wants to work with the countryside, not against it.”
The dispute highlights a wider political challenge for Labour as it attempts to balance the revenue demands of the tax system with concerns over the viability and succession of family-run farms.
For Burnham, the pressure is now coming not only from opposition parties and rural campaign groups, but from within Labour’s own parliamentary ranks.
Campbell-Savours’ renewed intervention also leaves the government facing a politically sensitive choice: maintain its existing policy while defending its wider fiscal objectives, or make another concession to farmers in an attempt to rebuild relations with rural England.
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