‘Axe the Tax’ call as Devon family farms face ruin

The government’s controversial Family Farm Tax will push local farming families to the brink unless urgent steps are taken, a Devon MP has claimed.

Newton Abbot Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley says there is less than a week left for the government to ‘see sense’ and scrap the tax before it comes into effect on April 6.

Changes are planned to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, and Mr Wrigley has called on the Chancellor to perform a final U-turn which he says will protect the future of British food security and rural livelihoods.

“Farmers are already being hammered by the cost-of-living crisis,” he said. “Now they are under even greater pressure from rising fuel, fertiliser and feed prices due to Donald Trump’s illegal Iran war – all while often surviving on only razor-thin margins.”

He said the government had already been forced into a partial retreat following a backlash from the farming community and campaigning from the Liberal Democrats.

While the threshold for 100 per cent relief was raised to £2.5 million last year, the Lib Dems say this still leaves many family-run farms in Devon facing effective tax rates of 20 per cent on assets above the limit.

Mr Wrigley added: “Family farms are the backbone of communities across Devon. We cannot stand by while they are pushed to the brink by a tax that is as unfair as it is short-sighted.

“The government’s partial U-turn was a clear admission that they got this wrong, but tinkering at the edges just won’t do. By refusing to scrap this tax in full, the Chancellor’s cavalier approach is putting our food security at risk and threatening the future of family farming in Britain.

“Farmers have been undermined for years by botched Conservative trade deals, and now they are being hammered by a Labour government that simply does not understand the countryside.

“The government has less than one week left to do the right thing and axe the Family Farm Tax for good.”