Cumbrian MP Markus Campbell-Savours has been suspended by the Labour Party after voting against the government’s plans to reform inheritance tax for farmers from April 2026.
Mr Campbell-Savours, MP for Penrith and Solway, was the only MP to rebel in an initial vote on the controversial reforms of agricultural property relief that will see family farms face huge bills on agricultural assets worth more than £1m.
The Commons voted by 327 votes to 182 in an initial vote on the proposals on Tuesday evening, ahead of a full vote on legislation to deliver this year’s Budget in the coming months.
However, 84 Labour MPs did not take part, a higher number than for similar Budget votes, according to the BBC. One MP in the Labour Rural Research Group, an internal pressure group for the party’s countryside MPs, told the BBC they believed around 30 Labour backbenchers had actively chosen to abstain.
Mr Campbell-Savours said he had promised local voters before the election that Labour would not touch the relief, adding it would leave many farmers ‘devastated at the impact on their family farms’.
“When the good people of Penrith and Solway decide my time here is up, I intend to walk around my community knowing that I did all I could for them. I gave my word and I intend to keep it, he said, the BBC reported.
The Combrian MP has been informed that Labour is suspending him from the party whip, meaning he will sit as an independent.
Strong sense of feeling
John Whitby, the Labour MP for Derbyshire Dales, added: “I hope the government understands there is a pretty strong sense of feeling on this from their own members”.
In last week’s Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a partial concession, announcing that unused parts of the £1m allowance will be transferable to spouses and civil partners, a move expected to reduce the eventual tax take by £70m a year.
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, the Labour MP for Suffolk Coastal, said she supported the concession but urged ministers to ‘go further’ to mitigate the effect of the changes.
Samantha Niblett, Labour MP for South Derbyshire, said her party had ‘lost the trust’ of farmers, having given no indication it planned to reform APR prior to the Budget. “For all the good that this Budget does, many farmers in my constituency simply cannot see past the broader inheritance tax changes,” she told MPs.
Rural representatives
The NFU had urged Labour MPs to abstain ahead of the vote. After it, NFU president Tom Bradshaw thanked ‘all the Labour MPs who have stood up to show that they cannot support this pernicious policy’.
“These MPs are the rural representatives of the Labour Party,” he said. “They represent the working people of the countryside and have spoken up on behalf of their constituents. It is vital that the chancellor and prime minister listen to the clear message they have delivered this evening.”
Conservative shadow Defra secretary Victoria Atkins also commended those Labour MPs who did not vote for the family farm tax, Farmers Weekly reported.
“Shockingly, 314 Labour MPs, including the current Defra secretary of state [Emma Reynolds] and the farming minister [Dame Angela Eagle], put their own jobs first and voted for the death tax, more farm closures and higher food prices,” she said.