The government has announced that it will raise the inheritance tax relief threshold for farmers, from £1m to £2.5m
The move followed talks last week between Keir Starmer and Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers Union
The union described the change of policy as a huge victory for British farmers.
We have spent the past 14 months campaigning and lobbying to try and mitigate the worst of the impacts of the proposals,” said NFU President Tom Bradshaw.
“After it became clear that this policy wasn’t going anywhere, we have focused our campaign to mitigate the worst of its impacts for the majority.
“Today’s announcement, which sees the tax threshold raised from £1m to £2.5m, will come as a huge relief to many. While there is still tax to pay, this will greatly reduce that tax burden for many family farms, those working people of the countryside.”
Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, said:
“Farmers are at the heart of our food security and environmental stewardship, and I am determined to work with them to secure a profitable future for British farming.
We have listened closely to farmers across the country and we are making changes today to protect more ordinary family farms. We are increasing the individual threshold from £1m to £2.5m which means couples with estates of up to 5m will now pay no inheritance tax on their estates.
It’s only right that larger estates contribute more, while we back the farms and trading businesses that are the backbone of Britain’s rural communities.”
