{"id":155963,"date":"2025-06-03T22:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T22:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/155963\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T22:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T22:59:16","slug":"farmer-confronts-steve-reed-over-inheritance-tax-betrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/155963\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmer confronts Steve Reed over inheritance tax betrayal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Kent farmer has confronted Defra secretary Steve Reed on live radio, accusing his government of abandoning family farms by rejecting a tax plan designed to protect farmers and raise more revenue.<\/p>\n

On Nick Ferrari\u2019s LBC show on 3 June, farmer David Catt accused Labour of ignoring farmers by rejecting an NFU and Country Land and Business Association inheritance tax (IHT) clawback plan that would protect family farms and potentially increase tax revenue for the Treasury.<\/p>\n

See also: Labour\u2019s farm inheritance tax \u2018secrecy\u2019 sparks anger<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou promised to listen to farmers,\u201d Mr Catt told the minister. \u201cSo why reject a plan designed to protect family farms? Where\u2019s the proof your policy will do better?\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr Reed completely dodged the question.<\/p>\n

He failed to explain why the Treasury dismissed the alternative clawback system, which offered full relief on farms at inheritance but imposed a 40% tax on assets sold within a set period after death, payable from sale proceeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, Mr Reed defended the government\u2019s plan to impose a 20% IHT on agricultural assets valued more than \u00a31m from April 2026.<\/p>\n

He claimed only a minority of farmers would be affected and justified the changes by citing a \u00a322bn public finance shortfall.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

Kent fruit and veg farmer, David Catt \u00a9 David Catt<\/p>\n

\u2018Good deal\u2019 for farmers \u2013 Reed<\/p>\n

\u201cMost farmers won\u2019t pay this tax,\u201d Mr Reed said, insisting that the policy is a \u201cgood deal\u201d for farmers and offers them a better outcome than others who pay 40% IHT.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThose that do, pay half the rate of other businesses and have 10 years to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr Catt hit back, citing conflicting figures from the Treasury and Defra.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefra\u2019s own data shows up to 70,000 farms could be hit,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about investors; it punishes the families who farm the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed \u2018unaware of farm tragedy\u2019<\/p>\n

Mr Ferrari pressed Mr Reed on a tragic case revealed by a Sheffield coroner, where farmer Philip (John) Charlesworth took his own life on 29 October last year \u2013 the day before the IHT announcement in the Autumn Budget \u2013 fearing his family would lose half their farm under the new rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you contacted the family?\u201d Mr Ferrari asked.<\/p>\n

Mr Reed admitted he hadn\u2019t and said: \u201cI didn\u2019t know about this one.\u201d He then added: \u201cIt\u2019s dangerous to speculate why tragedies like this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Ferrari told him: \u201cWell, you\u2019ve made it worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Reed acknowledged rising mental health challenges in farming and said the government has pledged to invest in mental health support hubs in rural communities.<\/p>\n

No contact<\/p>\n

However, the minister admitted he had not reached out to farming families affected by suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud of our farmers,\u201d Mr Reed said, pointing to a \u00a35bn government investment over two years in sustainable farming practices.<\/p>\n

He also highlighted efforts to boost farm profitability, including drafting in former NFU president Minette Batters to lead a review.<\/p>\n

But Mr Catt warned bluntly: \u201cThere is no food policy\u2026 British farmers are being squeezed to the brink.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Kent farmer has confronted Defra secretary Steve Reed on live radio, accusing his government of abandoning family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,2499,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-155963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114621917637711940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}