Finance Bill

Rachel Gilmour Excerpts

Committee of the whole House
Wednesday 11th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[James Wild]

I very much hope so. I know from my years as an adviser in the Ministry of Defence just how important the allowance is for retention. That is why it is so disappointing that the Government have broken their promise.

I am grateful to the many organisations that have shared concerns about the implementation of these clauses, especially as the measure is rushed and is taking place in the middle of the school year. The Chartered Institute of Taxation has called for a delay, saying that it is

“concerned that neither HMRC nor the private schools will be ready to implement the change in VAT liability effectively”.

In order to meet the mid-term deadline, HMRC has to register the schools in just five working weeks—an issue that new clause 8 could address.

[Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)]

Let me start by saying how deeply and genuinely grateful I am to the Secretary of State for Education for providing the money to rebuild Tiverton high school following a 20-year campaign. I also want to disassociate myself from some of the comments made by Conservative colleagues. Some of them were personalised and vituperative, and I do not wish to be associated with them. That said—

[The First Deputy Chairman]

Order. May I remind Members that interventions need to be on the point and to pose a question?

[Rachel Gilmour]

Blundell’s school is also in Tiverton. Would the hon. Member be surprised to hear that when canvassing in Tiverton, in areas that might be considered relatively poor, I met numerous grandparents who were saving money every month to help their children to pay for a better future for their own children at Blundell’s school, through bursaries?

[James Wild]

I entirely agree with that point. Families come together to help out, perhaps to fund a place for grandchildren to give them the best chance in life. We are not going to criticise people who make that choice, but unfortunately the Government are singling them out with their vindictive measure.

This change also represents a significant complication of the tax system. Even HMRC seems confused. The guidance on VAT registration for private schools has undergone seven technical updates since its publication, and there is confusion—as has been mentioned—about the meaning of “closely related supply”.

Farming and Inheritance Tax

Rachel Gilmour Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)]

As many Members know, I am able to speak with some expertise on this subject, as I was the first female director of the NFU in some 100 years and I now represent a constituency, in which I have lived for 34 years, where there are 1,006 farms or holdings. The Country Land and Business Association says that 432 of those farms will be affected by the measures.

I am known as somebody who tries to reach across the Chamber and make friends with hon. Members on both sides. I do not particularly enjoy confrontation, so there are elements of the debate that I have found unpleasant and disappointing. I do not like the references to class coming from the Labour Benches, or the suggestions that it has anything to do with class coming from hon. Members on the Conservative Benches. That is an irrelevance. Please do not play politics with my farmers—they are too important.

My plea to the Minister, when he is listening, is that he looks again—I am not asking him to change the policy; I understand that it is Treasury-driven—at some things that need to be looked at again. It is a flawed assumption that ownership is split 50:50 between spouses. That is not the case across Exmoor. And if it is not the case, especially in cross-generational farming families where older farmers hold on to the property so as not to burden the younger generation with increased capital gains tax on any future sale should they wish, then the relief stated by the Chancellor will not add up to the value stated.

Another flawed assumption is that average family farms are worth under £3 million. They are not. I am grateful to my constituent and good friend Guy Thomas-Everard, who went out of his way to give me the bill of sale for a perfectly average farm outside Winsford in my constituency. It is valued at £3.5 million, and that is before we count the deadstock and the livestock.

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Rachel Gilmour]

No.

Another flawed assumption is that the residential nil rate band will be applicable. If the value of the farm business is worth over £2.65 million, there is no residential nil rate band, so that swallows up large numbers of family farms.

I know that many Members are very, very unhappy indeed with the proposals. The hon. Member for Penrith and Solway (Markus Campbell-Savours) said he will vote with the Government because of the dire state that the former Government left farmers and agriculture in, but he is right when he says that this is a flawed piece of legislation. It will devastate family farms. I implore and beg the Minister to look at it again—and at least to get the facts right.