Farming and Inheritance Tax

Richard Tice Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

That is not how I interpret the comment, but I make no apology for the fact that we want to support farmers, as well as making our energy transition and building homes for people across the country. We need to ensure that we are achieving all the goals that the people of this country elected us to achieve.

I want to say more about data, because several Members have raised the subject. As I have explained a few times now, the DEFRA data shows the asset value of farms in England, but it is not possible to accurately infer a future inheritance tax liability from data on farm asset values. Any inheritance tax liabilities that farming assets may face will be affected by who the owners are, the nature of the ownership, how many owners there are, any borrowing that they have, and how they plan their affairs.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

The Minister talks about data. Given the massive discrepancy involved, and the impact of this policy, if the data shows in 12 months and 24 months that the Government have got this catastrophically wrong, will they revisit the policy and do a U-turn?

[James Murray]

When we approach policies in government we test them thoroughly and consider the details and the data, and we ensure that any conclusions we draw are based on the correct set of data, which is part of the conversation that we are having today. I do not know whether it is due to mischief or misunderstanding, but there is a certain focus on the total value of farms rather than on inheritance tax liabilities. The data on inheritance tax liabilities is the correct data to look at when evaluating the impact that the policy may have.