Essex farmers have been urged to write to their MPs as part of a nationwide campaign to reverse a controversial government decision to apply inheritance tax to farms.
National Farmers' Union (NFU) vice president Rachel Hallos addressed more than 50 farmers at the Essex NFU AGM on Monday (November 4).
The industry is shell-shocked after chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a series of eye-watering tax rises and changes which will hit farmers in her Autumn Budget on October 30.
Chief among their concerns are deep cuts to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) which mean that farmers will no longer be effectively exempt from inheritance tax.
The NFU is urging the government to reverse the decisions - warning they would damage family farms.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw - who farms at Fordham, near Colchester - met with environment secretary Steve Reed and Treasury officials on Monday to press the case.
The NFU will be holding a mass lobbying event in London on Tuesday, November 19, with hundreds of farmers meeting with their MPs in Parliament to urge them to reconsider changes to Inheritance Tax.
An online petition has been signed by more than 150,000 members of the public in support of British farmers.
“We are running at 110mph to help the government to understand the impact the decisions made on APR and BPR will have on family farms, and we need to keep that momentum going," Mrs Hallos told Essex farmers.
“Following Tom Bradshaw’s meeting with Steve Reed and Treasury officials, they are going back to check their figures.
“They know that this issue is not going to go away.”
The government announced in the Budget that from April 2026, farm businesses will need to pay a tax rate of 20% of agricultural assets valued over £1m as part of its reform of APR and BPR.
The NFU has disputed government claims that around three quarters are farm businesses in England will be unaffected by the changes to APR - citing the government's own figures.
The Treasury claims that 73% of APR claims are below £1m and so would be unaffected. But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (DEFRA) own figures show that only 34% of farms are under £1m net worth, says the NFU.
It says few viable farms are worth under £1m and many family farms will be forced to sell up to pay the tax bill.
Mrs Hallos urged Essex members at the meeting to continue to engage with their MPs and emphasised that the November 19 event is not a protest.
"Now is the time to stand up be heard," she told Essex farmers.
She added: “At the NFU we follow the rules, we don’t break any laws and we need to keep it classy.”
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