Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to work with the (a) CLA, (b) NFU, (c) FUW and (d) other industry bodies to protect working farms in the context of the proposed changes to APR and BPR.

As the Minister responsible for the UK tax system, I have participated in several meetings with agricultural organisations since Autumn Budget 2024 to listen to their views. Most recently, the Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs and I met with representatives from various agricultural organisations, including all those highlighted, on 18 February 2025.

As the Government has outlined, the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.