Rachel Reeves hands farmers inheritance tax break

"From April, farmers and small business owners who are married, are in a civil partnership or have deceased spouses, will be able transfer their inheritance tax allowance of up to 1m of full relief to each other if one of them dies without having used their allowance. The change means a farmer could leave their 1m allowance to their partner, and use their own 1m allowance, to pass on 2m of farmland to their children without paying inheritance tax."

"The chancellor's announcement in last October's budget that she was bringing farms and other agricultural property into inheritance tax rules to raise money for public services and close a tax loophole exploited by some wealthy landowners prompted large-scale protests. Farmers drowned out ministers' speeches with tractor horns after Reeves said she was ending a decades-long exemption for farms and would make inheritors pay 20% of the value of agricultural and business property above 1m."

"On Wednesday morning, before the budget, farmers defied police restrictions and parked more than a dozen tractors around Trafalgar Square and protested in Whitehall over a number of issues, including inheritance tax. Several people were arrested. David Gunn, an arable farmer and agricultural contractor from near Sevenoaks in Kent, said his message to Labour was: You said in the manifesto you would look after the farmers, which you totally haven't, you've ruined the countryside."

Rachel Reeves eased inheritance tax on agricultural property after sustained farmer pressure and protests. From April, married couples, civil partners or surviving spouses can transfer unused inheritance tax allowance of up to 1m of full relief to each other if one dies without having used their allowance. The combined allowances allow up to 2m of farmland to be passed to children without inheritance tax. The Treasury estimated savings of 30m next year and 70m a year in the following four years. The October budget plan to end a long-standing farm exemption had provoked large-scale tractor protests and some arrests. A tax expert called the change sensible and likely to reduce complex long-term planning.

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