A farmer has expressed his joy at Labour’s major inheritance tax U-turn, as he declared Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has finally “listened” to the community.
Speaking to GB News, Olly Harrison said the decision is a “step in the right direction”, but admitted he feared getting “too excited” due to the stark impact the policy announcement has had on his peers.
Confirming the decision today, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Emma Reynolds announced the inheritance tax threshold will rise to £2.5million for farmers and businesses.
She said: “So we’ve listened to farmers and businesses across the country, and we want to protect more family farms and businesses.
“So we’re announcing today that we’re increasing the inheritance tax threshold for individuals from £1million to £2.5million.
“So that means a couple with an estate worth up to £5million will pay no inheritance tax when they pass on their estate to the next generation.
“It’s important that as a Government, we listen to those farmers and businesses who will be affected by changes in policy and as a result of the announcement that I’m making today, 85 per cent of farming estates who claim agricultural property relief will now pay no inheritance tax.”
Reacting to the news, Mr Harrison told GB News: “It’s hard to get too excited because I do know of so many examples of farms that will still struggle by this, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Farmer Olly Harrison has welcomed Labour’s U-turn on inheritance tax declaring Keir Starmer ‘has listened’
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“I’m just so frustrated that it’s taken 14 months for them to actually admit that they were wrong. It’s something we do need to celebrate, and we do need to see we’ve got some sensible change coming. It is really, really good news and it’s definitely in the right direction.
“It won’t suit everyone, but it’s a really good start and even though it doesn’t suit, it will soften the blow slightly as well.”
Responding directly to Ms Reynolds’s statement, the farmer swiped: “An apology would have been nice! They talk of this wealth, and that’s what frustrates me.
“The tools to grow food to feed your voters, that wealth doesn’t exist unless we pack in. And if you keep putting pressure on us, we will pack in light. It’s probably going to help quite a lot of farms and quite a lot of businesses, but there’s still big businesses.”
He added: “When we were in London one day, a couple told us that their friends have a factory, it’s worth £50million, they employ 5,000 people. The inheritance tax will destroy it. So it won’t help them, and this is the thing.
“These businesses, whether it be a farming business or a normal business, are there employing and providing employment and generating profits. They pay taxes to pay for the NHS. If you don’t get that balance right, the whole thing falls.”
Hitting out at the Government for their handling of farmers and the inheritance tax policy, Mr Harrison told GB News: “Honestly it is good news, but we just think, why have they put us through this? Why could they have not have said, ‘listen, we’ll pause it until we get it right’.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Emma Reynolds has announced that the inheritance tax threshold will rise to £2.5million from £1million for farmers and businesses
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“Why have we caused all this heartbreak and people to take their lives? That’s the frustrating thing, it really is. Why did they need to lie?
“Why did they not say we’re looking into it or something like that and just stopped all this sort of anger and this outrage and this pressure that’s been put on farmers after such a difficult year.”
Asked by Christopher Hope for his thoughts Sir Keir Starmer’s remarks in the recent liaison committee, where he acknowledged that farmers were taking their own lives as a result of the tax changes, Mr Harrison said: “Tom Bradshaw from the NFU (National Farmers Union) met with Keir over 12 months ago, and he said give us 48 hours, and nothing happened at all. It was radio silence.
“And he did go in again after the shocking moment in the committee, which the Prime Minister come across quite callous, really, in the fact that he didn’t look like he was listening at all.
“Obviously, it was a front and he has done and he thought, right, let’s see if we can sort this out. And it is a big start.
“But had he listened in the very first place and done this, then wouldn’t have had all this drama over the last 12 months, and that’s just the annoying thing really.
“But it is it is good news, and it’s definitely going to cheer a lot of farmers up from a difficult year. It’s a good end to the year from what we started at definitely.”
Mr Harrison told GB News that the news marks a ‘good end to the year’ for farmers
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GB NEWS
As host Dawn Neesom argued that the decision could be down to it being a “deeply unpopular policy” with the public, Mr Harrison responded: “People have short memories, but I don’t think farmers do, because everything we do is season to season.
“So I don’t think they could repair the damage, but they’ve still got time, they could be the saviour of agriculture.”
Declaring the U-turn a “massive step in the right direction”, he concluded: “This is obviously a massive step in the right direction, but will they listen to us on other things?
“Because don’t forget, we’ve had our SFI (Sustainable Farming Incentive) taken off us, which there’s supposed to be a new bit of that coming out that still hasn’t arrived yet.
“There is so much going on, we seem to think that we can just import everything we need, but really we know it costs more and that’s money, the economy.
“And I don’t want to say that it’s all over and that’s that, though it’d be nice to be in that position. We still don’t believe any business should pay inheritance tax, that’s where I’m at anyway.”