A petition signed by more than 270,000 people has been given to 10 Downing Street urging their government to ditch its family farm tax.The petition was handed in by National Farmers’ Union of England (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw and NFU Cymru president Aled Jones on behalf of the four UK farming unions.
A petition signed by more than 270,000 people has been given to 10 Downing Street urging their government to ditch its family farm tax.
The petition was handed in by National Farmers’ Union of England (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw and NFU Cymru president Aled Jones on behalf of the four UK farming unions.
The campaign was launched following announcements by Chancellor Rachel Reeves during the Budget last October, making changes to Agriculture Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR).
In a statement, the four presidents of the UK farming unions said: “The public in huge numbers, more than 270,000 have signed this family farm tax petition expressing their anger and frustration at the utter contempt shown by the government for the people who produce the nation’s food.
“It gives us great strength to know that the public are backing British farming at this critical moment in time.
“The industry is not taking this lying down. The government has woken a sleeping giant, as our mass lobby of MPs in Westminster and the farmer led rally in Whitehall have demonstrated.
Day of Unity
On Saturday, 25 January, events will take place across the UK as part of a National Day of Unity.
Farmers will gather in town and cities to thank the British public for their support in this campaign and to underline that the farming industry will continue to fight the policy until the tax.
The NFU, with former Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) economists, found that up to 75% of working farms could be affected, with some facing tax bills of £100,000’s.
“Tomorrow, we go again. The National Day of Unity provides another opportunity to call on the government to overturn this abhorrent policy,” continued the statement.
“Farmers at events across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will be on hand to speak with the public to explain why changes to APR and BPR stand to punish food-producing businesses, destroying generations of work from hard-pressed farming families and changing the face of our rural communities forever.
“Government must take action. We’re asking the chancellor to listen to farmers and meet with us to hear and fully understand our very real concerns.”
Read more
The next stage in the inheritance tax campaign
UK minister ‘sorry’ for inheritance tax raid
Two-thirds of Irish farmers against UK inheritance tax
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: