Secured by Labour MP Ben Goldsborough (Lab, South Norfolk), who also sponsored the NFU’s drop-in event taking place beforehand on Monday 10 February, the debate came about as a result of the e-Petition ‘Don’t change inheritance tax relief for working farms’ which calls for the government to keep the current APR exemptions for working farms.
Set up by a member of the public after the Autumn Budget, this public e-petition is separate to the NFU’s which was delivered to No.10 Downing Street with more than 275,000 signatures by NFU President Tom Bradshaw and NFU Cymru President Aled Jones.
Though it received a response in December 2024 at 50,000 signatures from the Treasury, Monday’s debate was mandated after the e-Petition surpassed the 100,000-signature threshold. As of February 2025, the e-petition now has more than 150,000 signatures and counting.
Mitigations and consultations
As the debate began, MPs were told it was oversubscribed and were urged to keep their contributions short to ensure that all present members had the opportunity to take part.
Ben Goldsborough introduced the petition and said he was honoured to lead the debate and “give a voice to the farmers in my constituency”, highlighting the successful public engagement of the Stop the Family Farm Tax campaign that has been “effective in successfully shedding light on the daily challenges that face this fundamental sector”.
“When will they recognise it is only on the sale of the asset that farmers have access to the cash to pay the tax bill?”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
MPs from the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, SNP and minor parties were expectedly supportive of the petition.
More Labour MPs than during any previous debate shifted away from the government line and called for mitigations and consultations.
We must now work to continue change the minds of MPs that have not yet understood the implications on family farms.
In a short contribution, Sean Woodcock MP (Lab, Banbury) shared the worries of a farmer he met last month who felt the policy would rob him of continuing generations of work.
Mr Woodcock concluded that “this level of concern, justified or not, merits the government’s listening – I hope that they will do so”.
Getting the balance right
David Smith MP (Lab, North Northumberland) asked if the relief element of the policy could be “recalibrated” and if data from the Rural Payments Agency and Defra could be used to determine if land is being used for production.
Mr Smith also urged the government to consider if they have got the balance right.
Following on from this, Julia Buckley MP (Lab, Shrewsbury) asked if the Treasury would consider a temporary transitional extension to the taper to allow farmers to make the behavioural changes that they want to make to hand down farm assets to the next generation.
Sam Rushworth MP (Lab, Bishop Auckland) and Chris Hinchliff MP (Lab, North East Hertfordshire) urged Treasury ministers to model the changes before the policy comes into force.
Mr Rushworth also asked if the government would consider lifting the threshold to protect small farms, stating that “someone who inherits a £5 million farm is not a millionaire; they are the custodian of agricultural land” and that “there would be no shame in looking at this again”.
His contributions came on the back of a successful roundtable with NFU President Tom Bradshaw and NFU North Riding and Durham representatives earlier in the day.
Mind Your Head Week
Other speeches focused on the specific impact that the family farm tax will have on the devolved nations with Jim Shannon MP (DUP, Strangford) citing that average land values in Northern Ireland are highest in the UK and Ben Lake MP (Plaid Cymru, Ceredigion Preseli) warning of the discrepancies between Treasury data and those from industry figures like the NFU.
More notable contributions came from the Efra Committee Chair Alistair Carmichael MP (LD, Orkney and Shetland), Liberal Democrat spokesperson and NFU Food and Farming Fellow Sarah Dyke MP (LD, South Glastonbury and Somerton), and Shadow Farming Minister Robbie Moore MP (Con, Keighley and Ilkley).
Mr Carmichael, a farmer and landowner himself, kept his contribution short and told the room that the family farm tax “penalises those whom the government wants to protect while protecting those whom they say they want to penalise”.
In sharing her own emotional story of the impact on her farming family, Sarah Dyke reminded members that this week is Mind Your Head Week – a campaign that promotes rural mental health awareness.
She said that this year’s themes – love, positivity, and resilience are three characteristics that should be shown to farmers.
Pressure on elderly farmers
Shadow Minister Robbie Moore emphasised the pressure that elderly farmers are under, particularly those who do not believe they will live beyond the introduction of the policy.
He urged the government to listen to the NFU’s statistics and criticised the Chancellor for refusing to meet industry stakeholders.
In response, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray MP (Lab, Ealing North) said that he appreciates “some Members disagree with either the principle or the detail of the changes that the government has announced” but that the decision was informed by the government’s intention to “fix the public finances” and was not taken lightly.
The Minister said government and officials have been listening to the views of the farming sector and concluded that “the reform of the reliefs is necessary given the fiscal challenge that confronts us and the fact that the bulk of the cost of the reliefs had become skewed towards the wealthiest estates”.
NFU response
NFU President Tom Bradshaw sat in during the debate. He said it was “encouraging to hear noises from all sides that changes could and should be made” but later added that these had fallen on “deaf ears” following the Treasury’s response.
He added: “When will they recognise it is only on the sale of the asset that farmers have access to the cash to pay the tax bill?
“This is an unaffordable tax, based on inaccurate data, that must be reviewed urgently.”
Monday's events mark one of many steps in the NFU's campaign to Stop the Family Farm Tax.
What was evident was impact of the drop-in event hosted by the NFU prior to the debate with many MPs referencing the young farmers they had met earlier in the day during their contributions.
One MP, Brian Mathew (LD, Melksham and Devizes) used his contribution to share the story of NFU Ambassador Darcy Johnson whose farming future is under threat from the family farm tax.