grilled Environment Secretary Steve Reed on Wednesday’s Breakfast over his promises to rule out an raid on farmers. The MP had vowed to that he would not implement changes to agricultural property relief and said reports that he would do otherwise were “desperate nonsense”.
Labour has since reneged on its promise and plans to subject farmers to 20 percent inheritance tax on agricultural assets worth more than £1m.
Burley questioned whether Reed has “made peace” with farmers after their April 2026 plans sparked uproar. He argued that “farmers will still get the best deal on inheritance tax” as they will pay half the rate that other members of the public pay.
The politician also tried to defend Labour’s U-turn, insisting that the Government “did not know the state of the finances” when they came to power in July 2024.
Burley probed: “Well, why did you refer to it as desperate nonsense and no intention and making promises when you didn’t know what you were dealing with?”
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Kay Burley skewered Labour MP Steve Reed on his ‘broken promises. (Image: Sky News)
Reed replied, doubling down on his comments: “There was no intention before the election to do that because we did not know the state of the public finances.”
Burley hit back: “Well, why make promises?”
He said: “The previous government is being investigated for concealing the state of the public finances. I have said to farmers that I’m sorry we had to make those decisions because of the way that the Conservatives have concealed what was really going on.
“But we have ensured that farmers get a better deal on inheritance tax than anybody else in the country.”
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