Clause 1

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[David Smith (North Northumberland) (Lab)]

I welcome the Finance Bill. I will address clause 62 and schedule 12, which relate to APR and BPR. I have spoken on this subject several times, and did so back in November, because my constituency of North Northumberland has over 700 farm holdings, each of them growing the food that we eat and stewarding our land. As one farmer said to me recently:

“We have farmed this land since the mid-1800s—each generation investing in long-term decisions…which have benefited not just the farm, but the local area.”

I believe it is messages like that and the ability of farmers in North Northumberland to get this message across that were pivotal to bringing about these Government amendments.

The amendments will establish 100% relief up to £5 million for a couple, transferable between spouses, and a 50% relief thereafter. That will protect most family farms, with 85% of estates seeing no additional burden from April. I am indebted to the farmers of North Northumberland both for the way that they have engaged on the issue of inheritance tax and for the hard work they do day in, day out to put food on our dinner tables.

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

I have enjoyed working with my hon. Friend on the Labour rural research group. We are so grateful to our farmers for engaging with us and educating us as we have gone along, so does he agree that we now have a fantastic opportunity to rebuild trust with our farmers? I have had many emails of thanks from them, and I thank the Prime Minister and the Treasury for this policy amendment. I wonder how many of my hon. Friend’s farmers have also said that, despite the fact that they have usually or often voted Conservative, they always do better under a Labour Government.

[David Smith]

As I will go on to say, I can confirm that I have had many messages of support for this change in policy. It has been a pleasure to work with the Labour rural research group and other colleagues on this matter, as my hon. Friend mentioned. As I thank farmers, I also want to thank the Government for listening, learning and acting. It is the hallmark of a mature Government and of a healthy parliamentary debate that we have got to this point.

A multitude of structural factors contribute to the sustainability of intergenerational farming. There are many similarities between Britain’s blue-collar workers in the factories and what we might call green-collar workers in the fields. Both are squeezed by commercial interests and a globalised race to the bottom in pricing, costs and wages, which is why the laissez-faire approach to farming economics, such as in the imbalanced trade deals of the Conservative party, work against the sustainability of farming.

We have to plough a new furrow that will make farming genuinely sustainable in an intergenerational way. Protecting farming will require Government to form a new covenant with farming and green-collar workers more generally. The implementation of the Batters review will be very important here, particularly the farming and food partnership board, so that the whole supply chain can be examined and improved. It is high time the supermarkets in particular gave a fair price for the produce of our famers. Despite what the Liberal Democrats spokesperson, the hon. Member for Witney (Charlie Maynard), said, the Secretary of State announced last week the plan for the SFI application process later this year. I particularly welcome the fact that there will be ringfenced support for smaller farms within that.

As I draw my remarks to a conclusion, I will just mention that some larger farms will be impacted even after the changes to APR and BPR. For those just above the threshold, I encourage the Government to consider addressing the potential time and capacity challenges for accurate estate valuation and speedy probate, which must dovetail with the expectation of inheritance tax payments, so that estates that need to pay have clarity and are not penalised for blockages in the wider system.

I know that the Government are totally committed to the success of farming. That is vital, because the country needs a flourishing farming sector.