‘We’ve got to raise money’: Rachel Reeves hits back at Kirstie Allsopp and Jeremy Clarkson saying her Budget inheritance tax raid on farmers is ‘fair’ as rural anger grows_Nhy
Rachel Reeves has slapped down farmers furious at Budget plans to hike inheritance tax on agricultural land, saying it was a ‘fair’ was of raising money.
The Chancellor defended her decision to reform the way death taxes affect farms amid fury from the industry and high-profile celebrities like Jeremy Clarkson and Kirsty Allsopp.
From April 2026, inheritance tax will be levied at an effective rate of 20 per cent on the value of business and agricultural assets over £1million.
Campaigners warned that will affect almost all family farms, slamming the government for breaking ‘clear promises’ to protect the industry.
Ms Allsopp was the most outspoken, accusing Ms Reeves of having ‘f***ed all farmers’ and ‘destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children’.
Meanwhile, Tory MPs warned that it would damage UK food security and hinder efforts to make farming more environmentally friendly.
But the Chancellor last night insisted that almost three-quarters of farms would be unaffected, and said farmers were getting a far better deal than everyone else paying IHT at the full 40 per cent rate.
She told Channel 4 News: ‘On top of the normal inheritance tax threshold that you can pass on – a couple of million pounds including a house – to your descendants, in addition agricultural property relief will now provide another million pounds of tax-free allowance and then above that there is a 50 per cent discount on inheritance tax compared with what everyone else pays.
‘We have got to raise money, I feel we’ve done that in fair and balanced way – 73 per cent of farmers won’t be paying a single penny more in inheritance tax.’
The Chancellor defended her decision to reform the way death taxes affect farms amid fury from the industry and high-profile celebrities like Jeremy Clarkson and Kirsty Allsopp.
From April 2026, inheritance tax will be levied at an effective rate of 20 per cent on the value of business and agricultural assets over £1million.
Ms Allsopp was the most outspoken, accusing Ms Reeves of having ‘f***ed all farmers’ and ‘destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children’.
And Mr Clarkson, who fronts the highly popular Clarkson’s Farm series following his rural travails in the Cotswolds,posted on X: ‘Farmers. I know that you have been shafted today. But please don’t despair. Just look after yourselves for five short years and this shower will be gone.’
The National Farmers’ Union predicted the change would ‘snatch away the next generation’s ability to carry on producing British food’ – and could lead to higher prices.
And the Country Land and Business Association said the move, from April 2026, would hit 70,000 farms – calling it ‘nothing short of a betrayal’ which would ‘jeopardise the future of rural businesses’.
Ms Allsopp said: ‘Rachel Reeves had f***ed all farmers, she has destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children, and broken the future of all our great estates, it is an appalling decisions which shows the government has ZERO understanding of the what matters to rural voters.’
And Mr Clarkson, who fronts the highly popular Clarkson’s Farm series following his rural travails in the Cotswolds,posted on X: ‘Farmers. I know that you have been shafted today.
‘But please don’t despair. Just look after yourselves for five short years and this shower will be gone.’
Meanwhile, Tory MPs warned that it would damage UK food security and hinder efforts to make farming more environmentally friendly.
The Budget also reduced cash for the Environment Land Management Scheme (Elms), set up after Brexit to replace the EU Common Agricultural Policy, which subsidised measures including ‘local nature recovery’ habitat creation on farms.
Former minister George Freeman, the MP for Mid Norfolk, said: ‘Family farming is under attack from this government. The changes to APR will make it harder for family farmers of all sizes to pass on their proud agricultural tradition to the next generation.
‘How we manage our land is integral to tackling climate change, reversing biodiversity loss and ensuring our food security. But, combined with a trailed cut to the ELMS budget next year, the government is playing fast and loose with family farms, our environment, our food security, and the local rural economy.’
Patrick Spencer, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, said: ‘If Labour is serious about its pledges to protect the environment, farmers, and food security, it cannot go ahead with these changes to APR.
‘Farmers are the custodians of our countryside and their relationship with our land, unlike the Chancellor’s own economic whims, spans generations, not just news cycles. Cutting the nature-friendly farming budget next year, as implied in this Budget, would be a fool’s errand for a government supposedly wanting to fight climate change, protect nature, and support British farmers.
‘In her misguided attempt to ”tax the rich”, she risks delivering a major blow to Britain’s proud family farming tradition and the UK’s environmental ambitions.’
