Struggling farmers have accused Labour of ‘lying’ and said inheritance tax changes are the ‘final nail in the coffin’ as they react angrily to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget.
Jonathan Bell, 55, from Devon, runs his 250-acre farm in partnership with his wife and parents.
He accused the government of destroying the business, which has been in the family for at least four generations.
He estimates the inheritance bill for the farm will be around £400,000 – a cost he cannot afford on an annual profit of £30,000. Faced with the prospect of selling his land, he said he may have to give up farming altogether.
‘We look after the countryside and provide the food to keep people alive,’ Mr Bell told the Guardian.
‘If this is how the government treats farmers, why do we bother to produce food?’
Andrew Smith, 56, said the move to introduce a 20 percent inheritance levy on farm assets above £1 million marks a ‘betrayal’ by the Labour government
Mr Smith said the new inheritance tax rules will mark the ‘final nail’ in the coffin for many farming families
Under plans announced at the Budget, inheritance tax will be charged at 20 per cent on farms worth more than £1 million, although the Chancellor has said in some cases the threshold could in practice be around £3 million (file image)
It comes after Thursday’s Budget, when Reeves announced an end to tax-free inheritance for farms.
Presenter-turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson and entrepreneur Sir James Dyson are among those criticising the move.
From April 2026, farmers must pay a 20 percent levy, half of the standard 40 percent, for assets in excess of £1 million.
Farming union leaders are to meet with the Chancellor today amid backlash against the plans.
Andrew Smith, 56, said the move to introduce a 20 percent inheritance levy on farm assets above £1 million marks a ‘betrayal’ by the Labour government.
Mr Smith’s farm on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, has been in the family for more than 100 years, and despite producing 2,000 sheep and 30-40 cattle each year, he says the business makes no profit.
He told the Guardian: ‘[My sons] have been in the business with me since they left school. They have been bred to look after stock on the moors, which is a very difficult terrain to earn a living on.
‘They were expecting to take it over from me, but this is the final nail in the coffin for family farms.’
Mr Smith says farmers simply do not have the cash to stump up large sums of money, meaning they will instead have to sell their land.
‘Starmer has 100 percent broken a promise,’ Mr Smith said. ‘They lied.’
But for tenant farmer Andrew Brown, from Rutland, the plans are not as destructive.
Farmer Gareth Wyn Jones took to social media and said the farming industry is already ‘on its knees’
After Rachel Reeves’ (pictured) Budget, the government was warned the new measures could stop an entire generation from farming
NFU president Tom Bradshaw (pictured) is to meet Environment Secretary Steve Reed for crunch talks on Monday amid a growing furore over the Chancellor’s decision to make farms subject to inheritance tax
Jeremy Clarkson has accused Labour of trying to ‘nationalise the countryside’ as fury continues to grow over the crackdown on inheritance tax on farmers
He owns around 100 acres of land in the East Midlands but is mainly a tenant producing wheat.
Mr Brown believes the inheritance tax is a good idea if it stops wealthy individuals buying up farmland in order to avoid paying tax.
But he called for the threshold at which the tax kicks in to be higher, calling the current plans unfair.
Gerralt Lloyd, 47, whose family owns 120 acres of farmland and rents another 150 near Aberystwyth, Wales, agreed.
He still works for his 77-year-old farmer and one day hopes to hand the farm to his own children. He estimates he will face a £100,000 tax bill under the new rules, and says it’s a ‘pity’ the government has set the threshold so low.
‘This could be the death knell for many family farms,’ he said.
And farmer Gareth Wyn Jones took to social media to echo the consternation.
In a YouTube clip reacting to the Budget, he said the farming industry is ‘on its knees’ and the changes were the ‘final nail’ in the coffin.
After Thursday’s Budget, the government was warned the new measures could stop an entire generation from farming.
Today, the government said the vast majority of farmers will still be able to ‘pass the family farm down to their children’ amid worries about changes to inheritance tax.
Following a meeting between Environment Secretary Steve Reed and NFU president Tom Bradshaw, a Government spokesperson said: ‘The Government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast. It’s why we have committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years – more money than ever for sustainable food production.
‘We understand concerns about changes to Agricultural Property Relief and the Defra Secretary of State and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury met with NFU president Tom Bradshaw today.
‘Ministers made clear that the vast majority of those claiming relief will not be affected by these changes. They will be able to pass the family farm down to their children just as previous generations have always done.
‘This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while also fixing the public services that we all rely on. We remain committed to working with the NFU and listening to farmers.’
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw is to meet Environment Secretary Steve Reed for crunch talks on Monday amid a growing furore over the Rachel Reeves’s decision to make farms subject to inheritance tax.
Writing in the Telegraph, he said the new legislation would fuel a mental health crisis amongst farmers.
‘The feelings of anger, betrayal and despair are palpable,’ he said.
‘Families who can’t see any way they can now plan for the future that doesn’t mean losing their business. Men and women who’ve spent years building up businesses now wondering what’s the point in carrying on when it’s going to be ripped apart.’
Reversing plans to charge inheritance tax on farms is ‘the only sensible course of action’, he added.
He continued: ‘The vast majority of the people who will bear the brunt of this decision aren’t wealthy people with huge cash reserves hidden away.
Sir James Dyson (pictured) said the changes are an ‘ignorant swipe at aspiration’ and added that he had ‘huge empathy for the small businesses and start-ups that will suffer’
‘They are families that have often spent generations building up their farm businesses to provide food for the nation, often on very tight profit margins.
‘Their businesses have struggled through all the changes caused by Brexit, they’ve suffered years of being squeezed to the lowest margins imaginable, with costs of production skyrocketing, they’ve been battered by increasingly extreme weather conditions. They have nothing left to give.’
Tax experts have suggested the changes could affect fewer than 500 farms a year, once the tax thresholds and farmers giving their property to their children before they die are taken into account.
But Mr Bradshaw said the Treasury had a ‘completely skewed view of the structure of farming in the UK’.
He said: ‘Very few viable farms are worth under £1 million. That could buy you 50 acres and a house today. No viable food-producing business is 50 acres. The average farm in the UK is more than 250 acres.
‘The only sensible course of action for the future of family farms across the country, as well as for the sake of Britain’s food security and our legislated environmental targets, is to reverse this decision.’
He added the NFU ‘fully disputes’ Treasury figures suggesting farms worth up to £3 million could avoid paying inheritance tax.
‘The Treasury is saying only 27 percent of farms will be within scope of these changes, Defra’s own figures suggest that two-thirds of farms will be in scope.
‘How they can have that wide a discrepancy within Government is quite unbelievable.
‘There’s certainly no resolution today, we’ve made very passionately our perception clear: that this tax change is completely unfair.
‘It had been ruled out by the secretary of state in the run-up to the election and now there are many family farms right across the United Kingdom that are worried for their future.’
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: ‘Only a very small number of agricultural properties will be affected, but last year the benefits of agricultural property relief, 40 percent of the benefit was felt by 7 percent of the wealthiest land owners.
‘I don’t think it is affordable to carry on with a relief like that when our public finances are under so much pressure.’
The NFU predicted the change would ‘snatch away the next generation’s ability to carry on producing British food’ – and could lead to higher prices.
And entrepreneur Sir James Dyson said the move could ‘kill off’ farms and family businesses as he branded the Budget ‘spiteful’.
Sir James, 77, says the changes are an ‘ignorant swipe at aspiration’ and added that he had ‘huge empathy for the small businesses and start-ups that will suffer’.
He said: ‘Rachel Reeves is killing off established family businesses, and any incentive to start new ones, with her 20 per cent Family Death Tax, levied each time a family business passes a generation.
‘Every business expects to pay tax, but for Labour to kill off homegrown family businesses is a tragedy. In particular, I have huge empathy for the small businesses and start-ups that will suffer. Labour has shown its true colours with a spiteful budget.’
Jeremy Clarkson also expressed his fury and said the changes ‘could be the last straw for farmers who are already struggling to cope’.
The presenter of Clarkson’s Farm writes of Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in today’s Sunday Times: ‘If the word on the rural grapevine about a farmer’s suicide is accurate, their policy, born of bitterness and envy, may already have tipped one man over the edge.’
He accused the Labour party of going after ‘land owned by dukes and hedge-fund managers’ but said ‘Britain’s farmers seem to have been caught in the crossfire’.
The Country Land and Business Association said the move, from April 2026, would hit 70,000 farms – calling it ‘nothing short of a betrayal’ which would ‘jeopardise the future of rural businesses’.
Previously those owning farmland benefitted from Agricultural Property Relief, meaning they were exempt from inheritance tax.
And the Country Land and Business Association said the move, from April 2026, would hit 70,000 farms – calling it ‘nothing short of a betrayal’ which would ‘jeopardise the future of rural businesses’.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, the Chancellor defended the plans: ‘Last year, the benefits of agricultural property relief – 40 percent of the benefit was felt by seven percent of the wealthiest landowners.
‘I don’t think that it is affordable to carry on with a relief like that when our public services are under so much pressure.’
