The government must axe the family farm tax. Britain can't afford the alternative, writes Tim Farron

18 February 2025, 10:05 | Updated: 18 February 2025, 10:26

By Tim Farron

For too long British farmers have been offered a bad deal, and it isn’t only farming communities who suffer the consequences.

British farmers put food on our tables, carefully manage our precious countryside and create vital investment in our rural communities - many of which I and other Lib Dem MPs have the honour to represent.

Under the Conservatives, farmers’ incomes were slashed (hill farm incomes have plunged 41% since 2019), and their standards undermined in the botched trade deals the Conservatives negotiated. Shamefully, it is commonplace for farmers to earn less than the national minimum wage.

And now, this government seems content to follow in the former Conservative government’s footsteps. Labour’s inheritance tax changes and their acceleration of the phase out of basic payments will result in more farms across the country making the tragic decision to pack up and sell up.

That is why I will continue to fight the government to axe the family farm tax. To put it simply, it makes no sense. The Chancellor claims we need this to raise money for our public services – and of course, I understand the mess the Conservatives have left our public services and finances in. However, the family farm tax is only expected to raise around £115 million a year – less than 0.01% of government spending and less than 0.3% of all the tax rises announced by Rachel Reeves in this Budget.

The tax will result in farmers selling up - likely to large corporations and private equity firms with no interest in taking care of our countryside. This will result in a reduction in domestic food production and cause harm to our environment by taking land away from those who have nurtured it for generations. In the 18 years since 2005, there has been a drop of over 30,000 English farm holdings - that’s a reduction of 22.7%.

In my own constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale, I have been told heartbreaking stories from countless farmers who rightly feel that the government does not understand what’s at stake. Farmers like Liz Staley, who farms in Mallerstang near Kirkby Stephen, told me: “We work our socks off every day and make a lot of sacrifices to do what we do, but we feel we’re just not being listened to by the Government.

"In fact, they are actively trying to make it more difficult for us to produce food. We’ve got two boys who have learnt to farm and work the land. It’s what they want to do, and it’s all they’ll ever want to do, but the last two governments have made that really difficult.”

That isn’t fair for hardworking farmers or rural communities. Let’s not forget: if we don’t have farmers our food production plummets, undermining Britain's food security. And without farmers, the environment will suffer by taking land away from those who know it best, and have the skills to help tackle climate change and restore nature.

When UNESCO gave the Lake District World Heritage status, they gave equal credit to hill farmers as they did the glaciers. The Liberal Democrats understand that British farmers are vital and in our manifesto we pledged to provide an extra £1 billion a year to support profitable, sustainable and nature-friendly farming across the UK.

The government cannot turn a blind eye to British farming. If we don’t support our farmers, the impacts will go far beyond the farmyard. We will all be much worse off.

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Tim Farron is MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, and former Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

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