Farmers send clear IHT message to Treasury ahead of Budget

More than 400 Royal Welsh Winter Fair attendees made their feelings on the proposed changes to inheritance tax (IHT) clear when they held up a mosaic message, spelling out “No IHT” next to the main cattle ring.

The message was delivered on the second day of the Winter Fair in Llanelwedd on Tuesday (25 November) – the eve of the chancellor’s Autumn Budget announcement.

NFU Cymru, which arranged the display, said it signalled the strength of feeling among rural communities against the UK government’s planned changes to IHT.

Speaking after the display, NFU Cymru president Aled Jones said: “Today’s campaign activity is an unequivocal statement from rural Wales – the UK government’s reforms to inheritance tax reliefs are going to be devastating for Welsh family farming businesses and the prosperity of our rural areas.”

See also: Fairer Family Farming campaign urges government IHT rethink

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the shock changes to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) in her Autumn Budget last year, meaning that from April 2026, full APR and BPR will be capped at £1m.

“At a time when families will be mourning the loss of a loved one, they will also be weighing up how to dismantle their farming business in order to pay a tax bill they were told they’d never have to pay,” said Mr Jones.

Pause implementation

NFU Cymru urged the UK government to follow the recommendations of the cross-party House of Commons Welsh Affairs committee, which called for a pause in the implementation of the policy to enable a full impact assessment of the effect on Welsh farming.

“The biggest frustration for so many farmers is that the UK Treasury has been served a raft of evidence – from tax experts, the wider supply chain, and cross-party MP committees – that the consequences of these changes will be catastrophic,” he said.

The industry has been relentless in lobbying for a reversal on the proposed changes and more than 100 businesses, retailers and trade bodies across the food and farming supply chain, including NFU Cymru, wrote to the prime minister on Wednesday 19 November urging him to “do the right thing” and rethink the policy.

“The idea that UK government can continue with these changes despite such a resounding volume of concern and worry is extremely troubling. We must see a pause to the family farm tax until those impacts are properly accounted for,” added Mr Jones.