Tuesday, February 11, 2025
The Labour MPs under fire over the tractor tax
They say that on Monday, hundreds of protesting farmers blocked Whitehall before MPs entered Parliament to debate the petition:
Under the chancellor’s plan, a 20 per cent inheritance tax rate will be introduced on farms worth more than £1 million from April 2026. But it has sparked a furious backlash in farming communities and created a problem for many newly-elected Labour MPs in rural constituencies.
Analysis of the signatories of a petition, called ‘Don’t change inheritance tax relief for working farms’ and signed by 150,000 people, shows the Labour-held seats with the highest number of constituents signing it.
It comes as Save British Farming and the Countryside Alliance urge MPs to act on the issue or face losing their seat at the next election.
The Labour seat with the highest number of petition signatures (768) was Penrith and Solway, held by Markus Campbell-Savours.
Mr Campbell-Savours, who has more farms in his constituency than any other Labour MP, voiced reservations on the policy in a speech in the Commons last year.
More recently, the MP, who won his seat last year with a 5,300 majority, organised a survey of farmers over concerns he had heard on the viability of family farms and supply chains in Cumbria as a result of the plan.
He did not respond in time to The Independent for comment.
The Labour seat with the second highest number of signatures (686) was Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, where MP Steve Witherden became the first Labour representative to express doubts about the proposal last year.
Third was the Derbyshire Dales, where MP John Whitby won the seat with a majority of just 350. A total of 666 people have signed the petition in his constituency. In Mr Whitby’s maiden speech in October, he pledged to stand up for the farming community in the Dales.
MP David Smith’s constituency of North Northumberland and MP Anna Gelderd’s of South East Cornwall had 599 and 576 people signing the petition respectively.
Of the Labour MPs to win on the tightest majorities, MP Sam Carling’s constituency of North West Cambridgeshire had 294 signatures. Mr Carling won with a majority of just 39. In the Forest of Dean, 400 people signed the petition where MP Matt Bishop won with a majority of 278.
Labour MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, whose constituency Suffolk Coastal had 325 people sign the petition, told The Independent she had passed on farmers’ concerns to the Treasury.
She added: “But at the heart of the challenges facing our farming industry is that of profitability. Without profitability, farmers cannot sustain their businesses or plan for the future. This isn’t to take away the real concerns that farmers have about the Agricultural Property Relief, but it has exposed a real and fundamental problem facing the farming industry.”
Ms Riddell-Carpenter is one of 46 Labour MPs who has signed an open letter to six major supermarkets calling for a better deal for farmers.
This is one that will be worth watching.
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I am not against the bill but I feel it should be CLOSELY looked at to target those who can be seen to have entered farming purely to hide taxes
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