A powerful campaign has launched warning that the new inheritance tax changes will unfairly devastate farming widows and threaten the future of family farms.
The campaign, started by Welsh Plaid Cymru politician Siân Gwenllian MS, challenges the Labour government's controversial IHT reforms outlined in the October budget.
In a letter sent to the First Minister, she said that the upcoming changes to inheritance tax relief, due to come into force in April 2026, would "disproportionately and adversely affect" farming widows.
"This creates a deeply unfair situation for many widows who inherited their husbands’ estates in good faith, unaware of future changes to tax law," the letter reads.
“There is significant concern within rural communities that these tax changes, aimed at closing loopholes exploited by wealthy investors, have overreached and are now harming legitimate, working family farms.”
Ms Gwenllian also raised the matter during a plenary session in the Senedd, attended by the First Minister, urging both the Welsh and UK governments to act on the issue.
She said: "The changes will have a disproportionate impact on women—women who are farmers' widows—because the relief of the husband who has passed away will not be transferred to the widow to provide double the relief."
The Member of Senedd added that the changes would leave families unable to plan their estates effectively or ensure inheritance certainty for future generations:
“The families have lost out on opportunities to plan their estates and to draw up wills that would provide certainty for children for the future," she said.
"I’m sure that you would agree that this is a matter of equality for women in Wales that requires your attention and that of the government.”
In response, Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan acknowledged the issue had not previously been raised and committed to further discussions with ministers:
“I haven’t heard that particular aspect referred to before and, therefore, I will have discussions with the Minister here before seeing if we need further discussion, just so that they are aware of that particular aspect on the inheritance tax.”
Last week, the NFU demanded changes to Labour's inheritance tax rules in order to protect elderly farmers facing financial hardship.
The union warned that elderly farmers across the nation were "stuck in an abhorrent position" as many "feel like a burden on their families".
Meanwhile, tax and farming experts recently proposed an alternative ‘clawback’ approach to the government, but Number 10 declined to consider it.
