The four UK farming unions have handed in a petition signed by more than 270,000 members of the public to 10 Downing Street, urging the government to ditch its ‘devastating family farm tax’.
The petition was handed in by NFU President Tom Bradshaw and NFU Cymru President Aled Jones, on Friday on behalf of the four UK farming unions, with the presidents of NFU Scotland, Martin Kennedy, and the Ulster Farmers’ Union, William Irvine, unable to travel due to Storm Eowyn.
The campaign was launched following the changes to Agriculture Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves during the Autumn Budget, which the unions said ‘dealt a hammer blow to farming families nationwide’.
After decades of tightening margins, record inflation, increased production costs and extreme weather, many farmers and growers are at breaking point and simply will not be able to afford the increased tax bill they will now face, the unions said.
Evidence from the NFU, in consultation with former Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) economists to inform analysis of the impacts of APR reforms on commercial family farms, found that up to 75% of working farms could be affected, with some facing tax bills of £100,000s.
And last week, the OBR produced a new report saying that government changes to inheritance tax (IHT) on farms will likely leave elderly farmers horribly exposed, with no time to manage their way through the new policy.
With the likely loss of family farm businesses as a result of this tax, alongside increases in employment costs also announced in the Budget, there a real risk to UK food production, the unions said.
In a statement, the four presidents of the UK farming unions said: “The public in huge numbers, more than 270,000, have signed this family farm tax petition expressing their anger and frustration at the utter contempt shown by the government for the people who produce the nation’s food. It gives us great strength to know that the public are backing British farming at this critical moment in time.
“The industry is not taking this lying down. The government has woken a sleeping giant, as our mass lobby of MPs in Westminster and the farmer led rally in Whitehall have demonstrated.”
The petition was handed in after virtually all the UK’s major supermarkets delivered statements backing the NFU’s call for the family farm tax to halted, while its true impact is properly investigated.
National Day of Unity
On Saturday, events co-ordinated by the NFU, NFU Cymru, NFU Scotland and Ulster Farmers’ Union, took take place across the UK as part of a National Day of Unity.
Farmers gathered in towns and cities to thank the British public for their support in this campaign and to underline that the farming industry will continue to fight in the face of this unjust policy until the tax is subject to proper scrutiny.
“The National Day of Unity provides another opportunity to call on the government to overturn this abhorrent policy. It’s a day to come together for everyone who believes that Britain’s family farms, and the high-quality food they produce, deserve better,” the presidents of the farming unions said.
“Government must take action. We’re asking the Chancellor to listen to farmers and meet with us to hear and fully understand our very real concerns. Rest assured, the UK farming unions will not sit quietly and let this go – we will continue fighting because this is not just about our farms, but our families, our future and your food.”