The MP for Chester South and Eddisbury, Aphra Brandreth, joined local farmers from Cheshire to protest the Government’s changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR).
Over 10,000 farmers staged a demonstration in Whitehall to voice their anger at the Government’s decision that farms valued at over 1 million pounds would face inheritance tax charged at a rate of 20%.
The Treasury estimates that around 500 farming estates will be affected by the change each year, although farming unions like the NFU point to data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) suggesting closer to two thirds of farms might be liable.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) also organised an event at Church House in Westminster, where 1,800 of its members from across the country met with their respective local MPs to raise the impact changes to APR will have on the farming industry.
Aphra Brandreth MP, who represents the largely rural constituency of Chester South & Eddisbury said she had been contacted by many farmers following the Government’s changes to APR at the Budget. The MP hosted farming constituents in Parliament on Tuesday for a roundtable discussion about how changes to Agricultural Property Relief would affect their family farms and make them more difficult to pass on to future generations.
Commenting after the protest, Aphra Brandreth MP said:
‘It was important for me to stand in solidarity with our British farmers to protest Labour’s tax raid on our farming communities.
Farmers are the lifeblood of this country, and our local farmers in Cheshire are some of the hardest working people I know. After an incredibly difficult few years for farmers, now is the time to be supporting them, not saddling them with higher taxes and increased regulation.
I had the pleasure of hosting more than 20 local farmers in Parliament where we had a conversation about the real-life impact that this policy will have on family farms in Cheshire. The consequences of this policy should not be understated. Without farmers we have nothing, and I call on the Government to think again about this policy.’
