Steve Reed hit by inheritance tax protests from emotional farmers at combative NFU conference

The Environment Secretary said he would not change the unpopular policy, which will introduce a reduced inheritance tax rate on farming businesses worth more than £1million from next year.

The agriculture industry has said this will force family farms to be sold to pay tax bills, with NFU President Tom Bradshaw saying this puts elderly farmers in an “insidious” position.

During his speech, Mr Reed was hit by a silent protest from farmers over this, before he was heckled and repeatedly challenged in a question-and-answer session.

In one exchange, angry NFU member David Passmore told the Environment Secretary: “So these people wishing their lives away just take it on the chin there’s a black hole.”

“No one should wish their lives away,” Mr Reed responded.

Mr Passmore had raised the case of his widowed mother, an active farmer aged 90 who comes from a family with 400 years of farming history, saying she is “now wishing her life away ahead of April next year”.

“Her and other countless widows and widowers are now in the position where the best tax advice is to ensure they are not here in April next year,” he said, adding to Mr Reed: “What do you say to her?”

The Environment Secretary first responded by saying: “I’m really sorry about the individual circumstances, genuinely and truly I’m very sorry to hear that.

“It’s very difficult for me as Secretary of State to comment on individual circumstances.”

When pressed by Mr Passmore that he had promised not to change inheritance tax, Mr Reed added: “We were told one set of circumstances about the financial state of the country and inherited a different set.”

Shouts of “you lied” could be heard from the audience.

Mr Reed apologised for having to take the “very difficult decision” to introduce the tax to ensure financial stability in the economy.

But he said: “We will focus on making farms more profitable because that seems to me the problem at the heart of the crisis in the sector.”

After the question and answer session, Mr Passmore said the Environment Secretary failed to have empathy and compassion in his response, and said Mr Reed should be representing the interests of farmers to the Treasury.

Speaking to journalists after his appearance at the NFU conference, Mr Reed reiterated that he could not speak about individual circumstances.

He told reporters: “If you look at the underlying problem in farming, it’s not inheritance tax, it’s profitability, because all businesses are subject to inheritance tax, when they’re passed on.

“You don’t get the same reaction for other sectors as you’re getting in farming, and that’s because other sectors remain profitable.”

NFU President Mr Bradshaw warned that the inheritance tax issue was sucking the oxygen out of all other measures for farming, and made it “incredibly difficult for businesses” to plan.

Pointing to geopolitical uncertainty such as the situation in Ukraine, he warned: “There’s never been a more important time for this country to take control of its food supply than now.

“And yet, it still seems to me that they’re (the Government) absolutely taking it for granted, and they will not accept the impact that this has on the future investment for domestic food production.”

He added he was sure the Government knew it had got it wrong on inheritance tax about the “insidious position” elderly farmers had been put, but said he did not know “whether they’ve got a political way out”.

Asked if he thought Chancellor Rachel Reeves was a coward for not meeting him over the issue, he said. “Yes, if she’s so willing, if she believes this policy is right, she should have the courage to sit down with us and say, ‘I am right for this reason, for this reason, for this reason. Now get back in your box and go away’.”

He insisted farmers would not go away, but added they would not become militant, as public support was key to getting the Government to change its mind.