IHT reforms have farmers gripped by fear, says NFUS chief

Farm inheritance tax reforms have “shaken the industry” and inflicted months of stress and anxiety on farming families, NFU Scotland president Andrew Connon told delegates at the union’s annual conference in Glasgow today.

Addressing the conference, Mr Connon said proposed changes to inheritance tax (IHT) and business property relief (BPR), which are due to be introduced from this April, had dominated discussions across the sector over the past year.

“At every meeting and in every conversation, the number-one topic was the proposed changes to IHT and BPR. This issue shook the industry,” he said.

See also: Inheritance tax changes still threaten farming, Clarkson says

Mr Connon said UK government plans to reform agricultural property (APR) and BPR had caused “real fear” among farming families.

“I spoke to families who thought they might even lose the very farms they spent generations building.

“That’s not just policy, that becomes personal,” he said, describing the proposals as “callous” and “unjust”.

He said NFU Scotland (NFUS) and its members had mounted an unprecedented campaign against the reforms.

“We didn’t take it lying down. We fought and, crucially, we fought together,” Mr Connon said.

He cited rallies, meetings with politicians and “more than 10,000 farmers from across the UK standing and uniting in Whitehall at one rally”.

That pressure, he noted, helped to result in an announcement by government on 23 December 2025, increasing the proposed farm IHT threshold to £2.5m per individual farm, or £5m for married couples of civil partners.

“That’s a significant win for family farms for succession and for common sense,” he said.

He thanked members and MPs who backed the NFU’s campaign, including Scottish Labour MPs who “did stand up and be counted”.

However, his voice cracking with emotion, Mr Connon said the damage caused by the policy could not be undone.

“I can never forgive the UK government for the stress, the anxiety and the mental health that young and old endured for 14 months.

“Stress and anxiety that drove some to contemplate or even take our own lives, another disgrace of a policy,” he said.

He stressed NFUS remains opposed to the reforms.

“We remain completely opposed to the IHT policy, and we’ll continue to highlight the ongoing injustices,” he said.

These included penalties for single farmers and estates still facing “considerably high estate bills”.

Government still defends tax

Earlier, UK government Scotland office minister Kirsty McNeill MP defended the reforms.

She told the conference the previous system was “simply not fair or sustainable” and “heavily skewed towards the very wealthiest”.

She said the government had listened to farmers’ concerns and raised the threshold so that “around 85% of estates claiming APR will pay no more inheritance tax”, she said.

But she added: “Keep talking because your voice matters, and it makes a difference.”

Arla concerns

Speaking at the conference, Paul Dover, UK agricultural director at dairy co-operative Arla Foods, said the company remains concerned about the impact farm IHT would have on investment in dairy by farm businesses.

“My concern is that it is going to stop and divert the necessary investments in dairy, and that’s where we are,” he told delegates.