Inheritance tax protests: Yorkshire farmers warned they face long battle to reverse government proposals

The concerns echoed those made at a Back British Farming rally in York last Saturday, where speakers urged farmers to seek more public support and ramp up pressure on Labour MPs.

Armstrong Watson accountant and pig farmer Andrew Robinson told a crowd gathered outside York Minster that surveys of the firm’s 2,000 clients in the north of England and Scotland had found 82 per cent would be immediately affected by the proposed changes, and 23 per cent of the enterprises would be “critically affected”. He said: “There is two family farms I can think of within eight miles of where I stand now and they will have over £500,000 inheritance tax to pay if they don’t gift it and survive seven years. This is a complete tax on tragedy.”

Mr Robinson said the proposed changes would fail to close the tax loophole which the Government has highlighted is being exploited by wealthy individuals, as anyone buying farmland would still benefit from only having to pay 20 per cent inheritance tax on it. He said: “We need to fight this cause, long and hard, and we need to do it for our fellow business people in other family businesses, not farmers. Sadly, I don’t see their industry representatives and organisations fighting for your hotels, your builders, who are equally affected by the Business Property Relief.”

Stephensons Rural partner Rod Cordingley said family businesses of all shapes and sizes in Yorkshire were worried. Urging the farming community to seek support from others in the rural economy, he said: “I am here representing a lot of people who rely on you for a living. You need to canvass their support. Don’t let them relax, we can do something about it.”

Attending the rally, Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake said pressure from about 80 Labour MPs was the only way the Government would abandon the proposed tax changes. He said: “It’s going to be a tough battle and realistically I don’t think they’re going to change their mind, but you never know, you’ve got to keep working at it.”

After meetings involving Treasury minister James Murray, the NFU, the Tenant Farmers Association, Country Land and Business Association and Central Association of Agricultural Valuers this week, in which a “clawback” scheme was presented as an alternative way of mitigating some of the consequences of the policy, the groups said the government "showed no enthusiasm or appetite for compromise".

A government spokesman said it had regularly met representatives of the farming industry to listen to their views, but strongly believed the proposed changes to property relief was “a fair and balanced approach which helps fix the public services we all rely on”. He said the reforms would mean three-quarters of estates would continue to pay no inheritance tax at all, while the remaining quarter would only pay half the inheritance tax that most people pay, and payments could be spread over 10 years, interest-free.

He added: "We are also investing £5bn into farming over the next two years, the largest amount for sustainable food production in our country's history, and are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production."