Pressure is intensifying on the government to rethink its planned overhaul of inheritance tax on family farms, with more than 100 organisations urging the prime minister to halt a policy they say will hit working farmers hardest.
In an open letter sent just days before the budget, farming unions, major retailers and businesses across the food supply chain warn that the proposal is “unjust and unfair” and could force family farms to sell land or essential assets to cover “significant and unexpected tax bills”.
The organisations, which include the likes of the NFU, Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons and Arla, argue that the changes would undermine investment and weaken the sector’s contribution to the wider economy.
The signatories also point to alternative solutions proposed by independent experts, including amendments from the UK-based research centre CenTax, which say the policy could be reshaped to meet government aims without destabilising farm businesses.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said anger within the industry is unprecedented. “I have never known such an outpouring of anger and frustration from all sectors of the farming industry and wider supply chain to this unjust policy,” he said, adding that “the Treasury does not understand farming” and has been “intransigent” despite repeated warnings.
He argued the current plan is “anti-growth”, deterring investment and leaving many families fearing they may have to break up or sell their businesses. With 107 signatories behind the letter, he urged Sir Keir Starmer to act before the budget.
“There is still time to do the right thing for British farming and rural businesses,” he said. “It is not too late to make changes which will raise the money the government needs while safeguarding the future of family farms.”
Bradshaw called this a “pivotal moment”, saying a shift would help restore confidence after months of pressure. He added that the government must back a sector underpinning Britain’s largest manufacturing industry, food and drink, worth £153 billion to the UK economy and supporting 4.2 million jobs.
Separately, farmers and Labour MPs staged their own last-minute intervention, issuing a fierce warning to ministers over the IHT proposals.
Their move followed a year of discussions between farmers and their constituency MPs, during which long-standing concerns among rural Labour members steadily built.
Those frustrations culminated on Tuesday (18 November), when farmers and a group of Labour backbenchers mounted the first coordinated push to persuade the government to change course.
Anger across the community has been rising. More than 12,000 people have written to MPs, and farmers are preparing a major tractor protest in London ahead of the chancellor’s budget on 26 November.
Many argue the plan — which capped agricultural and business property relief at £1 million — ignores the reality that family farms often hold high land values but generate modest incomes, with some households relying on tax credits just to get by. Farmers warn the reforms would deter succession, stall investment and hit the next generation hardest.
Fairer Family Farming — a new grassroots coalition — recently said that individuals earning little more than the average UK household would be “treated as multimillionaires” under Treasury proposals.
The group argued the approach was fundamentally flawed, insisting ministers should raise revenue from “those who seek to avoid it” rather than jeopardise the future of viable, family-run farms.
