East Lancashire farmers react to inheritance tax changes

It comes after an estimated 13,000 people gathered in central London on Tuesday, November 19, to protest the change.

They called on the Government to scrap the 20 per cent charge on assets over £1 million which was announced in last month's budget.

Protestors included TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who previously admitted buying up his land to avoid having to pay inheritance tax.

The tax rate is half the inheritance tax non-farmers or land owners have to pay on their assets, and the Government has said that when factoring in other allowances most farmers won't have to pay the tax unless their inheritance is worth in excess of £3m.

Labour has said only around 500 farms a year (less than 0.3 per cent of farms) will be impacted by the change - and have 10 years to pay the money - but the NFU and other bodies have claimed tens of thousands of farms will be affected.

Some farmers have said the tax would force them to sell up due to being asset-rich and cash-poor and put the country's food security at risk.

Rebecca Fielding (Image: Rebecca Fielding)Rebecca Fielding, who works at her families farm, Pulford Dairy Farms, said: “It is very difficult for farms to pay a lump sum inheritance tax on the death of the farmer.

"It will leave the children of the farmer who have died with a massive weight around their necks.

 “If 500 farmers are affected that is still a lot of farmers and a lot of food production that needs protecting, and they cannot be put out of business to pay tax.

“It is harming the middlemen, the family farms in the middle.”

The dairy farmer was one of the 13,000 who travelled to London for the protest and she met with the MP for Darwen and Rossendale, Andy MacNae, to discuss the community concerns.

She also said all the farmers who went down brought food with them to donate to food banks throughout London.

Rebecca added: “Farmers are very good at sticking up for each other and there was a massive show of solidarity.

“All the farmers that went down took food for the food bank in London as we don’t like to go empty-handed.”

Another concern raised by Andy Collinge, from Over Hacking Farm in Stonyhurst, was that the tax disincentivises future generations from taking over.

Andy Collinge and his wife Joanna (Image: Joanne Collinge)

He considers farming to not be a short-term investment but one that will last generations, and with prices continuing to rise it is important to buy more land to avoid standing still in the market.

The fourth-generation farmer runs the stock-rearing farm, which raises calves before selling them on to bigger farms and says that he intends on passing it on to his son George who is 16.

Andy echoed concerns from the farming community, with many fearing they would have to sell off land and assets in order to pay the inheritance tax bill.

He said: “They should have left it as it was. It is there to protect family farms and there is no need to change it and they are not gaining much from it, and it is hard enough as it is.

“Passing it on and on again, and it is a challenge for the next generation. And we need to incentivise people to not give up.

“If I pass it on to George, he must find that money to carry on with what he has got. He will not feel like doing it, because he must sell something.”

The Government has said the majority of farmers will be unaffected and estates worth up to £3m could be passed down tax-free, and the policy is about "protecting small family farms while ensuring wealthiest landowners pay their fair share".

It said the money raised will go towards public services and the wealthiest should "bear the greatest burden" in funding them, and said £5 billion of support is being given to farms over the next two years.