Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid ‘risks my family’s future’, worried farmer warns

Farmer Ro Collingborn has issued an impassioned plea for to reverse her “brutal” inheritance raid on families.

The dairy farmer, 74, has warned that her children and grandchildren’s futures are now at risk because of the budget measure which is causing huge distress to her and husband Joe, 75.

The grandmother-of-five said: “For us, we’ve gone overnight from a position where we could pass our farm on to our children tax-free to one where they will be saddled with an enormous debt unless we pass on land and live for seven years.

“It’s not pleasant to have to start looking at each other to work out who will die first.

“It’s now my life, my children’s life and my grandchildren’s future at stake, and this is causing great distress to me and my husband at a time of life when we should be coasting along surveying the fruits of success of our many years.”

Ro was speaking on behalf of thousands of farmers up and down the country who are concerned they will not be able to pass on their farming livelihoods.

Labour’s announcement has caused widespread anger, with mass protests continuing outside supermarkets this Friday and in town centres next week.

Ro said: “Did Rachel Reeves actually act from a lack of knowledge or was it malicious intent?

“Just when we should be handing on to the next generation and enjoying our grandchildren, a bomb has taken off in the form of Rachel Reeves and her recent budget.

“Like many farmers, we had a bad feeling in our stomachs and a realisation that our lives had been turned upside down forever.”

Their 180 acre Brinkworth Dairy Farm, in Chippenham, North Wiltshire, has been in the family for at least 125 years with a herd which was established in 1910.

But it risks disappearing from the lives of Ro and Joe’s grandchildren Eric, nine, Abel, 14, and Bede, 16 – as well as their daughter Ceri and son-in-law Chad who hope to continue farming.

Labour’s decision means that inheritance tax relief for farms would be limited to £1million, meaning all assets above that threshold passed down to the next generation would be taxed.

There is a higher threshold of £3 million for couples passing on their farms.

The Daily Express’s Save Britain’s Family Farms crusade has demanded a U-turn.

The family’s land is likely to be valued at around £1.8 million with business assets of £750,000 and cattle valued at £500,000.

This totals more than £3 million with the farmhouse to be taxed and valued on top of everything else.

Angry farmers will rally together against the move on Friday when they descend on supermarket car parks with their tractors to engage with members of the public about the impact of inheritance tax changes.

Then the National Farmers’ Union on January 25 will have “day of unity” to bring together farmers from across the UK in town centres to also rally local support.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, external affairs director at the Countryside Alliance said: “If Rachel Reeves and the Treasury were under any illusion that opposition to their hated family farm tax would ease in the new year, they are staggeringly mistaken.

“In the coming weeks, demonstrations will take place in numerous rural constituencies, many with Labour MPs now, drumming up support for their cause and spreading their message to the public.

“The ask is simple: don’t throw family farmers under the bus, rethink the policy. Farmers are organised and prepared for a long battle ahead, this is about their future and preserving family farms for the next generation.

“It could very realistically rumble on for years, impacting any announcement and policies connected to the countryside in the pipeline. This will be an incredibly bad look for the government, something the rural sector has repeatedly warned would happen”.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed last week apologised to farmers over decisions the Government “had to take” to fix the public finances.

Farmers lined the streets in tractors and honked their horns outside while Mr Reed was repeatedly quizzed over inheritance tax changes at the Oxford Farming Conference.

He said: “I’m sorry that some of the action we had to take shocked you in turn, but stable finances are the foundation of the economic growth needed.”

But Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins MP said: “The message to City Steve is very clear. Our farmers will not give up; they will keep fighting Labour’s vindictive Family Farm Tax and we will be with them every step of the way.

“This week, I will be meeting businesses from across the farm machinery sector to hear just how negatively Labour’s disastrous Budget is affecting them and their customers. At the same time, farmers across the country will continue to protest and attempt to get City Steve and his colleagues to listen.

“This Labour Government has been nothing short of a complete disaster; the impacts on farming and the wider rural economy will be catastrophic. Labour need to face up to the facts – they have got their sums wrong and they need to reverse these policies urgently.”

Meanwhile Emma Mosey, chair of the Farm Retail Association, warned farmers are being hit with both inheritance tax and national insurance hikes

She also warned of the “existential problem” of food security and production in the longer term.

She urged the Government to consult more with the industry before making changes.

A Government spokesman said: “Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast.

“This Government will invest £5 billion into farming over the next two years, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history. We are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production.

“Our reform to Agricultural and Business Property Relief will mean farmers will pay a reduced inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% for other businesses, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free. This is a fair and balanced approach, which fixes the public services we all rely on, affecting around 500 estates a year.”