Two Cambridgeshire MPs from different sides of the political divide are calling on the Government to scrap its controversial family farm tax.
Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, Pippa Heylings said: “Family farmers across South Cambridgeshire have already been failed by a Conservative party that didn’t care about them – they can’t now be let down by a Labour government that doesn’t listen or understand them.”
And Conservative MP for NE Cambridgeshire Steve Barclay said: “The family farm tax is only creating huge uncertainty and alarm within farming; it is impacting wider rural businesses that provide services to farms as investment decisions are paused.”
Mr Barclay, the former Environment Secretary in the Conservative government, joined farmers from across his constituency today to protest in London.
He said: “The Labour Party just doesn’t understand farming or the rural economy. We risk losing decades of expert knowledge, with the impact of the current proposals having a chilling effect on farm investment which impacts wider rural businesses..
“Labour’s Family Farm Tax will force many families to sell their farms, which will undermine our food security at a time of increased global uncertainty.”
In an article for the Daily Express, he wrote: “Labour lied when they said they would not change farm inheritance tax. Labour got their numbers wrong at the Budget when claiming only a few farms would be impacted.
“When Labour wanted the vote of rural people they promised they had changed, claiming they would form a ‘new relationship with the countryside and farming communities’.
“Regrettably for those of us who care about farm businesses and our country’s food security, this new relationship seems to be one of utter disdain.”
Pippa Heylings said she had meet with her local farming community “as Lib Dems demand the Government thinks again about the ‘family farm tax”.
She said the tax will be a cause of concern for the 299 farms in South Cambridgeshire.
She said: “I am calling on the Government to think again about the family farm tax that would be disastrous for our local farmers. It’s a wrong-headed approach especially in areas like South Cambridgeshire – suffering inflated land values – where it will affect farmers trying to make a living off the land, put food on our plates, restore nature and combat climate change.
“British farmers are already battling with sky-high energy bills and botched overseas trade deals; and this hike will only make things much worse. I am urging the Government to change course.”
