Farmers celebrate Starmer's Christmas U-turn on inheritance tax

In a monolithic Christmas U-turn by Sir Keir Starmer, the authorities has announced a immense climbdown connected inheritance taxation connected farmers.

The taxation alleviation connected household farms handed down betwixt families is to summation from £1m to £2.5m, meaning lone farms worthy much than £5m volition pay.

The climbdown, overturning bitterly unpopular proposals successful Rachel Reeves's fund past year, follows a idiosyncratic involution by the premier minister.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw revealed the authorities backed down aft helium had 2 "very constructive meetings" with the PM.

Responding to the climbdown, Mr Bradshaw - who led a high-profile run which included tractors blocking Whitehall - said it would travel arsenic a immense relief.

Tory person Kemi Badenoch claimed it was a "huge U-turn" by the authorities and a large triumph for her party's run against Labour's "family farms tax".

But the shadiness situation caput Victoria Atkins claimed it was lone a partial U-turn connected the "vindictive household workplace tax" and was excessively precocious for immoderate farmers. Businesses and lives had been lost, she said.

Announcing the climbdown, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: "We person listened intimately to farmers crossed the country, and we are making changes contiguous to support much mean household farms.

"We are expanding the idiosyncratic threshold from £1m to £2.5m which means couples with estates of up to £5m volition present wage nary inheritance taxation connected their estates.

"It's lone close that larger estates lend more, portion we backmost the farms and trading businesses that are the backbone of Britain's agrarian communities."

The U-turn was fixed a lukewarm invited by the NFU, which has led the relentless protests successful Westminster and astir the UK.

Mr Bradshaw said Tuesday's announcement would "greatly" trim that taxation load for galore household farms

He said: "Changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) announced successful past year's fund came arsenic a immense daze to the farming community.

"Until that moment, the champion taxation readying proposal was to clasp connected to your workplace until decease and walk it connected to the adjacent procreation who could proceed to tally a viable farming, food-producing business.

"The archetypal changes to APR and BPR, contained wrong the Finance Bill, resulted successful a pernicious and cruel tax, trapping the astir aged and susceptible radical and their families successful the oculus of the storm. The NFU and its members person stood beardown for what we believed in.

"I americium thankful communal consciousness has prevailed and authorities has listened."

The climbdown besides follows a mini-rebellion successful the Commons successful aboriginal December successful a ballot connected the inheritance taxation proposal, erstwhile astir 30 Labour MPs representing agrarian areas abstained and one, Markus Campbell-Savours, voted against and had the Labour whip withdrawn.

'A large triumph for the Conservatives against a cruel and immoral tax'

Ms Badenoch, who has campaigned against the taxation during respective workplace visits, said: "This is simply a immense U-turn by the authorities and a large triumph for the Conservative Party's run against Labour's household workplace tax.

"The household workplace taxation is cruel, immoral and volition not rise immoderate wealth due to the fact that farmers volition halt farming. It would person pushed farms to the brink, damaged our nutrient supply, and wounded the radical who enactment agelong hours to provender the country.

"This combat isn't finished. Other household businesses are inactive affected by Labour's taxation raid, and we volition support pushing until the taxation is lifted from them too. But contiguous is an important win, and impervious that lasting up for what's fair, adjacent erstwhile the likelihood are against america tin marque a existent difference."

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson, urged the authorities to scrap the "unfair taxation successful full" arsenic "many household farms volition inactive find themselves financially crippled and hardly making the minimum wage".

Reform UK lawman person Richard Tice said: "This cynical climbdown - whilst amended than thing - does small to code the twelvemonth of anxiousness that farmers person faced successful readying to support their livelihoods.

"With British agriculture hanging by a thread, the authorities indispensable spell further and abolish this callous farms tax."