Harriet Cross, Member of Parliament for Gordon and Buchan, is looking for co-signatories for a letter she plans to send Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP.
It follows changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) announced in the Budget. The MP considers these changes present a serious threat to family farming across the UK.
In the letter, she challenges the government’s assertion that these changes will only affect the “richest estates” and points out that many modest family farms will easily exceed the £1 million threshold.
Already the letter has been co-signed by 62 MPs and Lords, with support growing daily. Harriot believes the changes to APR and BPR can be reversed if enough support can be garnered, hence her request for farming organisations to add their weight to her appeal.
To contact Harriott please visit: https://members.parliament.uk/member/5311/contact
NFU petition nears 150,000 target
The NFU is also putting further pressure on the Chancellor. It’s ‘stop the family farm tax’ petition is part of a wider lobbying campaign and is already close to the NFU’s 150,000 target.
The NFU sees the changes to APR and BPR as a ‘hammer blow’ to farming families, after decades of tightening margins, record inflation, extreme weather and increased production costs. It believes many farmers and growers are at breaking point, unable to absorb any more cost burden.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “There’s still time for the government to accept they’ve got this wrong, and my message to ministers is that they should do the right thing and reverse this awful family farm tax.”
Those who want to sign the petition here is the link: https://www.campaigns.nfuonline.com/page/160300/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=XPost&utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=post
