Sir Keir Starmer faced questioning on planned changes to inheritance tax facing farmers at his first appearance in front of the cross party Liaison Committee this week.
Grilled over the numbers of farmers that would be affected by the tax once it comes into force in 2026, the prime minister defended the government’s published numbers, and said only 500 would likely to be affected per year.
However, Alistair Carmichael, MP, who is also chair of the EFRA select committee, told Sir Keir the 500 number did not include those farmers who would be affected by changes to business property relief, rather than agricultural property relief.
Sir Keir defended the policy, saying the Government needed to increase taxes to pay for public services.
Reacting afterwards, Carmichael, said: “The Prime Minister has undermined the case made by Treasury and DEFRA ministers who have sought to pretend that this was about tackling the Jeremy Clarksons and James Dysons of this world. It was clear from his answers that it is just about raising money.
“He could not have been clearer that if farmers are caught and farms have to be sold then that is fine by him.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “Despite ministers previously claiming this was about punishing wealthy people avoiding tax1, it’s clear from the Prime Minister’s words today that it is simply an indiscriminate revenue-raising measure with no thought given to who it impacts.
“What’s worse is that the government has clearly forgotten the reason agricultural inheritance tax reliefs were brought in in the first place – which was to ensure that farms would not be sold or broken up following the death of the owner and could continue to produce high quality British food through each generation2. It’s clear that this government has entirely broken with that premise, and it will be farming, then its associated industries, and then consumers who will bear the impact.”