Axe the Tax: Chancellor has less than one week left to “do the right thing” for farmers across Devon

Liberal Democrat MP for the Newton Abbot constituency, Martin Wrigley, has today warned the Government that they have less than one week left to "see sense" and scrap the devastating Family Farm Tax before it comes into effect on the 6th of April.

With less than a week remaining until the changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) come into force, Martin has called on the Chancellor to perform a final U-turn to protect the future of British food security and rural livelihoods. 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.

The Government has already been forced into a partial retreat following a backlash from the farming community and campaigning from the Liberal Democrats. While the threshold for 100% relief was begrudgingly raised to £2.5 million last year, the Liberal Democrats have branded this a half-measure that still leaves far too many family-run farms in Devon facing effective tax rates of 20% on assets above the limit. 

Martin said:

"Family farms are the backbone of communities across Devon. 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.

"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 less than one week left to do the right thing and axe the Family Farm Tax for good."