Stafford Borough Council’s leader has agreed to raise rural communities’ concerns about agricultural inheritance tax changes with the area’s MPs – but an original motion put forward by a farmer and councillor was amended to be “a little less political”.
Councillor Mark Winnington said that a number of farmers had taken their own lives in the wake of the Government’s controversial plans to levy a 20% Inheritance Tax on agricultural assets worth more than £1m.
He has been highlighting the plight of fellow farming families since the proposals first came forward last year. And at this month’s full Stafford Borough Council meeting, he urged fellow councillors to support the area’s farmers by calling on the Government to “reverse the damaging changes to inheritance tax relief on agricultural property introduced in Labour’s Autumn Budget”.
He also called for a reversal in the move to use agricultural land for solar panels rather than farming, “to maintain food security for our country and locate solar in other more appropriate locations”, and “restart the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) with immediate effect as the flagship green farming scheme.”
He said:
“This motion is not about me – it’s the fact we are living in a rural county. In Staffordshire we have a proud history of farming and food production; local farmers have embraced the green revolution for sustainable farming, even solar power.
“But for some reason this Government we have got at the moment seems to take a heinous dislike to pensioners, small businesses and farmers. This motion is to ask the three local MPs and the Government if they would think again about the inheritance tax rules which have really upset the farming community.
“There are cases of farmers that have taken their lives because they don’t know what the future is going to be. Please look after our farmers.”
Council leader Aidan Godfrey said farmers “were an important part of borough life”. He added
“Not only do they produce the food we eat, they manage the countryside we enjoy.
“We do support them, but I would like to propose an amendment to the motion that is probably a little less political. I would prefer we have a council motion we can all get behind and give farmers 100% of our support.”
Councillor Godfrey’s amended motion stated that the council
“determines to write to the Members of Parliament covering the Stafford Borough area to draw their attention to the concerns felt by the local farming community in respect of the changes to inheritance tax relief on agricultural property introduced in the Autumn Budget and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)”.
It added: “The council expresses its support for the farming community and its contribution to the borough. It urges Government to give full support to measures designed to assist farmers to work sustainably and in a way that supports nature recovery.”
Councillor Doug Rouxel raised a further amendment to the motion, during a debate at the meeting which lasted around an hour. He said:
“The farmers of Stafford Borough perform a vital service for us all in growing crops and raising animals for our food and clothing.
“Yet in recent years governments have not appreciated this and the new government has further eroded confidence among farmers and the suppliers and contractors that support them. We are a rural council and we have a large number of farming families who contribute to the economy of Stafford Borough, and farming can be a key driver for nature recovery and mitigating the impacts of climate change.”
The council leader was urged to write to MPs covering the Stafford Borough area, as well as the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, “to draw their attention to the concerns felt by the local farming community in respect of the changes to inheritance tax relief on agricultural property introduced in the Autumn Budget and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)”. The motion also called on the Government to reconsider the thresholds for Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief to ensure that ordinary family farms are not penalised.
Councillor Rouxel’s amendment failed to gain enough votes to be carried. But Councillor Godfrey’s amendment received sufficient support to be carried.
