It’s not too late to row back on farming tax, local MP tells Minister

Damian released the following statement today: 

 

Damian Hinds has pressed the Treasury for answers on how inheritance tax changes will affect agricultural investment.

Commenting on the issue, Damian said: “I have heard repeatedly from farmers and the wider agricultural sector about the devastating impact this will have on the rural economy. Suppliers and machinery dealers are already reporting cancelled projects, with some looking to lay off staff. These are the early real-world consequences of this tax, and I fear there is much more to come”.

The debate was triggered by an e-petition calling for inheritance tax relief for working farmers, which gathered nearly 150,000 signatures.

Damian also challenged the Treasury’s estimates on the number of farms affected, suggesting they may have significantly underestimated the impact. Addressing the so-called "couples exemption," which allows assets to be passed tax-free between spouses, he said: “We now know that only half of farms are owned by a couple, meaning the spousal exemption won’t apply to the rest. It’s clear that far more farms will be affected than the Treasury originally anticipated.”

Concluding his speech, Damian said: “It is not unheard of for a government to discover that when they bring in a tax, its effect in practice is not quite as they expected when they did the spreadsheet and when the Minister signed off the submission”.

He added: “It is not too late for this Minister and this Government to change their minds and to make significant changes. There is no shame in it, and I urge them to do so.”

Outside, a thousand tractors were in the capital for the Save British Farming protest. Earlier in the day, Damian had joined fellow MPs to meet campaigners outside HMRC. 

 

ENDS

For more information: contact Victoria Mackenzie 
[email protected]  

 

Notes to editors

  • Changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) announced in October’s Budget mean that many farms with assets over a threshold will now pay inheritance tax at 20 percent from April 2026.  

 

  • Damian is calling on East Hampshire residents to join him in opposing the government’s decision to cut inheritance tax relief for family farms.   The petition can be found at: stopthefarmtax.com.

 

 

 

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