The Budget's inheritance tax raid on farmers will put food security at risk

It may have wanted to catch wealthy types who invest in farms and do very little farming, but the Government's new inheritance tax rules will instead damage the agri-sector, writes Ian Mean.

Far too often , I believe we forget the importance of farmers and associated food businesses to our Gloucestershire economy, writes Ian Mean, Business West Gloucestershire director.

Too often we forget about food security and how vital it is to produce our own food on our own land.

These concerns have been put into sharp focus following the Budget which scrapped exemptions that until now have allowed farms to be passed down the generations free of inheritance tax.

Minette Batters, the indefatigable former leader of the National Farmers Union, put it bluntly when she said: “This Treasury attack on farmers is unforgiveable. It will destroy lives, force up food prices and ruin the countryside.”

She is right. This inheritance tax raid of farmers will put food security at risk, and according to suppliers, leave Britain more reliant on foreign imports.

Agriculture has long been part of the Gloucestershire landscape, and according to the National Farmers

Union, over 70 per cent of the county is ag…