North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan backs calls for rethink on 'hammer blow' farm inheritence tax

From April 2026, a 20 per cent inheritance tax rate will be levied on agricultural assets worth more than £1 million - half the usual rate -  which were previously exempt.

In a report published today, the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efra) called on the Government to push back announcing its final agricultural property relief and business property relief reforms until October 2026, to come into effect in April 2027.

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan said she welcomed the rethink, having previously called for the changes to be scrapped altogether due to their impact on Shropshire farmers.

“The family farm tax has been a hammer blow for many farms across Shropshire and the country, so the Select Committee is absolutely right to demand a rethink," she said.

“I’ve been pushing the Government from the beginning to listen to common sense, axe the family farm tax and support farmers who have been pushed to the brink by years of neglect by the Conservatives' and Labour’s failure to understand rural areas.”

Ministers have been urged by a cross-party parliamentary group to delay reforms to farming inheritance tax until 2027 over concerns that the changes threaten to hit “the most vulnerable”.

The group of MPs suggested that delaying the changes would “allow for better formulation of tax policy” and protect “vulnerable farmers” who would have more time to seek professional advice.

“The lack of proper evaluation of the impact of these changes means that the scale and nature of its impact on family farms, land values, tenant farmers, food security and farmers in the devolved administrations is disputed and unclear and comes with a considerable risk of negative unintended consequences," they said in a report to government.

“As such, the reforms threaten to affect the most vulnerable, including those who are older or are farming less profitable or tenanted holdings.”

In a statement, the National Farmers Union called for an "urgent restoration of trust" with the Government's department for rural affairs, accusing the department of "clearly falling short" for Britan's farmers in a number of key areas.

"We’re grateful to the chair and his committee for consistently scrutinising the cruel inheritance tax proposals announced in the Budget. We are glad to see that it agrees this policy is unfit to become legislation." said NFU president Tom Bradshaw. 

"We understand why the committee has asked for a delay, but that doesn’t take the terrible pressure off older farmers. The NFU maintains that this legislation is fundamentally unfit, destructive, badly constructed and must be changed.

“We remain ready to engage and help rebuild trust in the system on behalf of farmers. For the sake of food security, rural economic growth and vital environmental work, restoring confidence is essential. We continue to have a positive working relationship with Defra but, like the Efra committee, we would welcome improvements in stakeholder management and the communication of policy. I believe the Secretary of State, whom I am sure shares this view, will see this as a positive opportunity for change.”