James MacCleary, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven, Polegate and surrounding villages, has called for a full U-turn on planned changes to agricultural tax relief set to take effect on April 6.
The changes, which come into force on April 6, will affect eligibility for Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR).
Mr MacCleary said: “I come from a family of dairy farmers in Devon and regularly meet with farmers across my constituency, from Litlington to Hankham. Family farms are the backbone of our community here in the Lewes constituency and up and down the country. 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.”
This tax will hit family-run farms with effective rates of 20 per cent on assets above a £2.5 million threshold, a limit the Liberal Democrats say still leaves far too many family-run farms in East Sussex facing effective tax rates of 20 per cent on assets above the limit.
Mr MacCleary argued that the sector is already struggling.
Farmers are already being hammered by the cost of living crisis and are now 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 recent changes do not go far enough to address the concerns of the farming community.
Mr MacCleary said: “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 one week left to do the right thing and axe the Family Farm Tax for good.”
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