Following a long-fought campaign by the NFU, the government has confirmed the threshold for inheritance tax changes due to come into force next April will be raised to £2.5 million.
This news will come as a huge relief for many farmers and growers.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “After 14 months of campaigning and lobbying, the changes to raise the tax threshold from £1m to £2.5m – which if combined with a spousal transfer take that to a potential £5m – has greatly reduced the tax burden for many family farms. It was a result many said wasn’t achievable.
“But I want to be clear – the NFU remains opposed to the policy. It remains the wrong approach. We know there are still farming families who could face a large tax bill. We also know a full reversal will not be possible in the short term, and we have numerous other vital areas where our members want us to lobby. As a professional lobbying organisation, we have to focus our efforts where and when we have the ability to create change – unfortunately that time is not now.
“This phase of our public campaign has ended but we will still seek to get this policy scrapped at the next political opportunity, and we’ll continue to engage with political parties on the issue.”
