Badenoch warns farming burden has crossed the threshold

Kemi Badenoch has called for a "different tax regime" as she shared her fear that the Government will fail to raise money "from farms that don't exist". Speaking to farmers in her North West Essex constituency, the Conservative Party leader criticised "constant Government saying, 'You can't do this, you can't do that, you can't move forwards'".

Badenoch tried her hand at harvesting wheat during her visit to a farm in Little Walden, driving a Claas Lexion combine harvester with farmer Sam Goddard. She told Goddard: "I am very keen to find out more and more about what this year has been like and about how we're actually going to do the harvest."

Badenoch takes to the fields

Looking at the machine, the MP for North West Essex added: "It's a lot more complicated than I assumed." Replacing his machine like-for-like would cost around £400,000, but more up-to-date models would probably be more expensive, Goddard said.

Taking questions from farmers about changes to the agricultural property relief from inheritance tax, Badenoch said that the Government was "not going to get tax from farms that don't exist". From April 2026, farmers who previously did not have to pay inheritance tax on their agricultural property will only be able to pass on up to £1 million without facing a bill.

Inheritance tax changes spark concern

Beyond this threshold, they face a new effective rate of 20 per cent. Fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has projected this change, along with a similar change to business property relief, will raise around £0.5 billion for the Treasury by 2027/28.

"If you force people to give up or sell off, then you don't get anything at all," Badenoch warned. "And the bottom line is, this whole argument is because some people do not understand the difference between assets and income, and that just because you have an asset that's worth a lot, it doesn't mean that there's lots of money coming in to tax."

Warning over farm viability

The Leader of the Opposition added that businesses "need a different tax regime", and continued: "A lot of farming just feels like constant interference. Everything is interfered from the minute you wake up."

Examples of interference included "chemicals and insecticide, people you're hiring, how much you've got to pay them", plus changes to "employers' NI (national insurance), then somebody wants to put pylons on, there's compulsory purchase, it's impacting the cost of the land, if you want to add a new farm building, there's planning applications", she said. "It's just endless constant Government saying, 'You can't do this, you can't do that, you can't move forwards'. And the burden in my view has now crossed the threshold."

(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.