Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief

Debate between Dan Tomlinson and Wendy Chamberlain

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question, which has given me a chance to return to a question that the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson), asked, but that I did not quite get to—he will have to forgive me. I will put on record for the House that the number of estates claiming only business property relief is set to fall from 325 to 220 a year as a result of our increasing the threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million.

I have met representatives of Family Business UK. I know that, as well as having private conversations about APR, Labour Members have been discussing the BPR proposals with the Government. The uplift in the threshold will mean that family businesses that people wish to pass on will now be subject to a lower tax rate, or will not have to pay the tax at all in many cases.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

I find it interesting that the Minister says that this is the right policy. That is what the Government said on 23 December, but not what they said at oral questions on 18 December—the day before we rose for recess. I have spoken to farmers who will now not be affected by the tax, but who have spent cashflow and hard-earned savings on financial advice to ameliorate their position. Things are not getting easier for farmers; just this morning, one of my local farmers got in touch to say that he was informed on new year’s day that his milk supply faces a 3p per litre cut. What is the Government’s assessment, alongside what is in the Batters report, of the ongoing financial impact on farmers, be it of poor Government policy or of poor supply chain practices?

[Dan Tomlinson]

Earlier in the year, Members asked us about making these changes, and we have come forward with a revised proposal that includes a higher threshold. That is the right thing to do; it shows that we have listened to representations from the farming and business communities, as my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) mentioned. The Batters report, which was published on 18 December, made a number of recommendations. We will take forward many of those proposals to ensure that we support increased profitability for farmers and continue to work on important sustainability initiatives.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dan Tomlinson and Wendy Chamberlain

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Dan Tomlinson)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The immediate task facing the Labour Government was to take action to stabilise the public finances and invest in our public services. On national insurance, we did that in a way that protects the smallest businesses by increasing the employment allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. That means that 865,000 employers will pay no national insurance contributions at all, and more than half will either gain or see no change.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

The national insurance increases in last year’s Budget not only increased national insurance, but impacted on part-time workers, many of whom the hospitality industry relies on. Hospitality companies in North East Fife have written to me directly, but they have also started to share with their customers the real impact of the cost increases they are seeing. Does the Minister agree that there has been an impact on hospitality, and will he commit to ensuring that the Chancellor delivers a hospitality-friendly Budget come the autumn?

[Dan Tomlinson]

I thank the hon. Member for being the first parliamentarian today who has not asked me, “Who will you be backing in the Labour deputy leadership contest?” I appreciate that very much.

When it comes to small businesses, in particular those in hospitality, overall employment has increased by 380,000 since the Government came to power. This week, I will be having discussions with members of UKHospitality to think about how we can support the sector more through the changes to business rates announced last year. We will come forward with more details on that in the Budget later this year.