MEMBERS of Spa Young Farmers Club (YFC) joined a protest against government plans to change inheritance tax laws for farms in London last week.
Thousands took the streets of the capital on Tuesday (19 November) in response to the October budget announcement by chancellor Rachel Reeves that a 20 per cent tax could be applied to farm businesses worth more than £1m, as part of a reform of agricultural property relief (APR).
James Annett from Newcastle and Stuart Orr from Crossgar travelled as members of the Ulster Farmers Union’s (UFU) Next Generation Forum and met with a number of local politicians to discuss the potential knock-on effects – particularly on younger generations – of the chancellor’s plans.
Mr Annett said that it was “brilliant to see such a huge support for farming”.
“We are just a regular-sized family farm, and I’m sure you have seen land prices in the local area – we would be hit quite hard with the APR,” he told the Mourne Observer.
“I wouldn’t say it would wipe us out, but it would definitely put our business backwards – plus, it’s not just APR, it’s all the other regulations that are coming into force too.
“It has just put farming in a completely different light to where it was.
“Hopefully, the government will sit up and listen.”
Mr Orr thanked the UFU for providing the opportunity to travel to the protest.
“We were grateful to be given the opportunity to represent our local agricultural industry by standing beside farmers of all generations from all over the UK,” he stated.
“The decision by the Labour government has the potential to decimate our local landscape, and we were glad to be part of the voice calling for a reversal.”
