Business of the House

Ben Maguire Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important question. He will be aware that resources allocated to firearms licensing units are a matter for the relevant chief officer. However, we would expect forces to process these applications very quickly and efficiently so that resources can get to where they are needed. The next Home Office questions are the week after next, so he might want to raise the matter with the Home Secretary then.

[Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)]

Hundreds of farmers in my rural constituency are facing a mental health crisis. They are not sure whether their farms and their life’s work will be passed on to the next generation, or whether they will even be farmed in five years’ time. I constructively relayed some of those concerns to the farming Minister, the hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner), earlier this week. Will the Leader of the House today commit to a debate in Government time on the proposed changes to the agricultural property relief and inheritance tax rules to give our farmers the reassurance they so desperately need?

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question, which gives me an opportunity to further clarify some of the points that he and others have raised. The Government figures are based on actual claims, not other people’s analysis. They show that three quarters of farmers would be unaffected by the changes and that only around 500 claims from the wealthiest estates would be affected each year. There are a number of mitigations available, in relation to how long that could be paid back and so on. The Government support our rural communities. We support our farmers. We are really proud to have returned a record number of Labour MPs representing rural communities. [Interruption.] Opposition Members chunter from the Back Benches, but that is why we had a debate earlier this week on these issues. There have been other opportunities in this House to raise them. I am sure he will have further such opportunities.