A Labour MP with more than 1,600 farms in his constituency has broken cover to condemn Rachel Reeves’s controversial inheritance tax raid.
Markus Campbell-Savours, the new MP for Penrith and Solway, warned his front bench he was “not prepared to break my word” to farmers and would be prepared to vote against the Chancellor’s plans.
The changes mean those previously exempt from paying inheritance tax on agricultural land will now pay a 20% tax on estates worth over £1million.
Mr Campbell-Savours, who has more farms in his constituency than any other MP, revealed his stance during a Conservative opposition day debate on the issue in Parliament.
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Markus Campbell-Savours railed against the policy (Image: Markus Campbell-Savours Facebook)
He told the Commons: “I’ve spent the last few weeks speaking with farmers in Penrith and Solway, trying to understand the full impact of the inheritance tax proposals knowing that I have months left to engage Defra and the Treasury and seek important amendments.
“And, let me be clear, if today was the real vote I would vote against the Government’s plans.
“I’m no rebel, I’m a moderate. But during the election I read what I thought were assurances from my party that we had no plans to introduce changes to APR. On this basis, I reassured farmers in my constituency that we would not. Now, I’m simply not prepared to break my word.
“I’m told that there is no Labour MP in the country with as many farms as I have in Penrith and Solway and I hope my colleagues will understand my feelings on this.
“Today, however, we’re debating a frankly irrelevant motion from the Conservative Party, a motion which fails to acknowledge how they failed to deliver for my farmers.”
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Victoria Atkins encouraged Labour MPs to send a message to the Government (Image: Parliament Live)
Opening the debate for the , Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins said she wanted to give rural Labour MPs like Mr Campbell-Savours “time to reflect and consider whether they can continue to support this vindictive tax”.
She said: “Before ambitious backbenchers … get to their feet and accuse these farmers and us of scaremongering – something they’ve been happy to do in the past – think on, discover some humility and compassion and ask why tens of thousands of decent, hard-working and sensible people across the United Kingdom know that the Chancellor has got it so wrong.”
Ms Atkins said of farmers: “They feed us and now they need us. Labour MPs need to join us and axe the family farm tax.”
Labour will be whipping MPs to vote down the Tory motion and instead support a Labour motion which insists the Government had no choice but to “make difficult decisions to protect farms and farmers in the context of the £22billion fiscal black hole”.
Treasury minister James Murray refused to say if Labour will U-turn on the policy should data emerge to disprove the Government’s claim that only a tiny number of farms will be affected by the changes.