Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief

Steve Witherden Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

Over the course of recent months—since I have been in the Government, from September onwards—Ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and from the Treasury have continued to engage with farming communities and with business communities. As has been raised by some Members today, it is worth remembering that this change affects business property relief, not just agricultural property relief. As a result of that listening and engagement, we have come forward with this change in time for it to be included in the Finance (No. 2) Bill.

[Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)]

This month marks 12 months since I first called on the Government to raise the APR threshold. I strongly welcome their decision to do so, and thank NFU Cymru and the Farmers’ Union of Wales for their tireless campaigning. Can the Minister assure me that the Government will continue to listen to rural communities like mine?

[Dan Tomlinson]

Yes, I can reassure my hon. Friend that we will continue to listen to, and engage with, the over 150 Labour MPs who represent rural and semi-rural constituencies.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Witherden Excerpts

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rachel Reeves)]

Sorry, Mr Speaker, bear with me. [Laughter.] This Government are committed to growing the economy, and we were the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year. We have done three trade deals and cut interest rates five times—and I did not even need my notes to remember all that.

[Steve Witherden]

New polling by the Trades Union Congress shows that the public overwhelmingly support packages of taxes on wealth, on banks and on gambling companies. It also found that 74% of 2024 Labour voters who are now leaning towards Reform back those measures. Will the Chancellor commit to protecting working people from higher taxes on their income by ensuring that wealth pays its fair share, rather than imposing cuts and regressive measures?

[Rachel Reeves]

In the Budget last year, we got rid of the non-dom tax status, we put up capital gains tax, we started treating carried interest as income—not as capital gains—we introduced new taxes on private jets, we put VAT and business rates on private school fees and, of course, we changed the rules around agricultural property relief so that people who have farms worth more than £3 million will pay inheritance tax, although at half the rate that everybody else does. We took a number of measures last year to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share.

Some countries around the world do have a wealth tax, but countries like Switzerland, for example, do not have inheritance tax. I think it would be a mistake to get rid of inheritance tax and replace it with an unproven tax without knowing what revenue it would bring in.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Witherden Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

One of my key priorities as Exchequer Secretary and the Minister with responsibility for HMRC is to oversee a programme of transformation at HMRC to improve its customer service, to digitise the service, to close the tax gap and to ensure that we have the modern, reformed service that we need for the future.

[Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)]

T5. I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the register of all-party parliamentary groups. During the covid-19 pandemic, 3.8 million self-employed UK taxpayers were shamefully excluded from Government financial support. Many, including pregnant women and war veterans, were forgotten about by the Conservative party. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how to address the unfairness faced by so many during the pandemic?

[James Murray]

As my hon. Friend set out, decisions on eligibility for covid-19 financial support were taken by the previous Government. The current Government have no plans to assess the financial compensation scheme, but the covid-19 inquiry has recently launched its module to investigate the economic response to the pandemic. The Government are committed to learning from its findings.