A U-turn on inheritance tax would be welcomed by farmers and the public
The inheritance tax row that has engulfed agriculture is wholly unnecessary that could have been avoided had the Government consulted farmers before coming up with a policy that is going to clearly harm this vital sector.
Farmers do not have an issue with the Government clamping down on those who are exploiting the current system for tax purposes. Multi-millionaires who have little interest in actual agriculture.
However, everyone can see that the changes will penalise family farms to the point where some will no longer be viable.
If there was any doubt about the financial sustainability, or lack thereof, for farms then the warning from Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU), should drive home the urgent need for the Government to rethink its policy on inheritance tax.
More than half of the 7,000 farms in York and North Yorkshire do not have a sustainable profit, he said, ahead of the launch of a report looking into the state of farming at the Great Yorkshire Show.
The Government has found itself in a tailspin, having to perform a series of embarrassing U-turns. However, a U-turn on inheritance tax would not be embarrassing but a recognition that to change course is the sensible thing to do.
Farmers often operate on really thin margins and have little to show for at the end of a long-day of grafting.
The one thing they were secure of was not being penalised should they pass on the farm to the next generation so that they too can tend to the soil.
The Government should use the Great Yorkshire Show as an opportunity to listen to farmers and understand not only their concerns around inheritance tax but also on other issues such as climate change and food security.