Farming leaders have been left with โboiling bloodโ after meeting the Treasury on Tuesday as the government stands defiant to rethink changes to the inheritance tax on farms.
MPs have stood firm and will continue to introduce the 20% inheritance tax rate on agricultural and businesses worth more than ยฃ1 million.
Most farmers are cash poor and those who are asset rich will be forced to sell their farms and farmers who are elderly will have no time to plan for their future.
Farmers have been protesting over the months over the inheritance tax introduced by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Labour refuses to reconsider this as it comes into effect from April 2026.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw told reporters following the meeting, โThe Government resolutely believe that they are correct and that they are generous in the exemptions they are giving us.
โThey donโt care about the human impact. They donโt care about the intergenerational impact.
โThey donโt care about the impact on tenant farmers and the geopolitical situation that the world faces today.โ
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Bradshaw said the government rejected their proposed โclawbackโ mechanism which would allow famers to face tax charges only when they sell assets.
He said, โThe door is shut from the Treasury,โ adding, โThe reaction from our members is going to be one of fury, one of real anger, one of desperation that weโve seen over recent months and itโs what we all feel here today.โ
Victoria Vyvyan, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) president said, said: โI looked around the room and thought, โIโm not sure that there is anybody in this room who really understood when Tom was talking about what a balance sheet looks likeโ.
โThey were just adamant and deaf to what we were trying to say, and I think we all came out slightly with boiling blood about it.โ
The Chancellor is yet to meet with farming representatives and has shown โarroganceโ as she is not justifying the policy she announced in the Budget.
Bradshaw said, โIf the Chancellor believes this policy is right, if the Chancellor is willing to own the outcomes of this policy, if the Chancellor is willing to run down our rural economies, to risk the future of domestic food production, then the Chancellor should look us in the eyes and tell us that sheโs right.โ
The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA), George Dunn chief executive, said the meeting was โone of the most unproductive meetingsโ he has ever had in 28 years in his position.
He said, โThey were clearly unprepared and unwilling and arrogant enough to say: โWeโve done all of the thinking. We donโt think we have to ask any more questions. Job done. Weโre not making any changesโ.
โSo the battle continues because we do think theyโve got this severely wrong.โ
Bradshaw said, โI donโt think we know what to do next, quite genuinely.
โWeโve done our best to try and work with Government. Weโve gone in there today offering a solution and yet theyโre saying: โNo, we are rightโ without any comprehension of how the industry really works.โ
Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said: โThe Government has been endlessly warned of the economic and emotional damage their family farm tax is having across the countryside, but once again theyโve arrogantly ignored the warnings and stuck pig-headedly to their ideological dogma.โ
A Government spokesperson said: โOur reforms to agricultural and business property relief will mean three-quarters of estates will continue to pay no inheritance tax at all whilst the remaining quarter will pay half the inheritance tax that most people pay, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free.
โThis is a fair and balanced approach, which fixes the public services we all rely on.โ
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