Inheritance tax plans 'threat to countryside'

The removal of inheritance tax exemptions for farmers threatens the character of Worcestershire's rural landscape, Conservative and Green councillors have claimed.

A motion submitted to Worcestershire County Council said ending the exemption for farms worth more than £1m would represent a "direct threat to the livelihoods of farming families".

A second motion said generations of hard work would be destroyed by the "unjust" ruling.

The government has defended the reform, saying the money was needed to fix the public finances and pointing to other support it had offered to farmers.

The policy is on the agenda for the council's full council meeting on Thursday, January 9.

Tory councillors Adam Kent, Kit Taylor, Elizabeth Eyre, Brandon Clayton, Chris Rogers and Adrian Kriss said they were "deeply concerned".

Their motion called for Defra minister Steve Reed to reconsider policies that place "undue financial strain on family farms".

It said the changes "risk undermining the future viability of agricultural businesses" essential to the county's food security, local employment, and "stewardship of [the] countryside".

Green councillors Martin Allen, Matt Jenkins, Malcolm Victory and Andrew Cross are calling for the threshold to be raised to £5m.

Their motion said: "Too many farms will be lost, generations of love, care and hard work will be destroyed with this unjust level of taxation.

"This council calls upon the government to revisit their decision and adjust the threshold upwards, so that those farms of less [than] five million pounds are excluded from this disastrous blunder."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended the policy last month, saying the "vast, vast majority" of farms would not be affected and that the revenue raised was needed to fund public services.

Ministers have also pointed to a £5bn investment in farming and land management in England over the next two years announced in the Budget

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