Another council joins ‘town hall rebellion’ opposing family farm tax

Another council has overwhelmingly voted to support local farmers during an impassioned debate against the government's new 'family farm tax', in what the Countryside Alliance has dubbed a growing ‘town hall rebellion’.

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) in the East Midlands now joins Cornwall, Buckinghamshire and Staffordshire Moorlands in publicly opposing Chancellor Rachel Reeves's changes to inheritance tax rules for farms announced in the Autumn Budget.

A motion submitted by Conservative councillor Alex Evelyn was debated at a meeting of the full council last Thursday, 5 December, asking council officers to scrutinise the government's new inheritance tax plans, saying the decision was "ideologically driven" and a direct threat to the rural communities of North Northamptonshire. The authority was called upon to consider what support it could offer farmers affected by the new tax rates and investigate the wider impact it could have on food security, local businesses and employment.

As reported by Cambridgeshire Live, Cllr Evelyn told the chamber: "As I represent a semi-rural division which is home to a number of farms I do feel quite compelled to actually speak on this motion and talk about our farming communities. It’s another day and another attack on the British people. This is a ticking time bomb that will impact family farms over the next five to ten years. Let’s all come together three weeks before Christmas and say we back British farms, back British meat and back British farmers."

Leader of NNC, Jason Smithers added: "It seems there’s a constant attack on parts of our society, private schools, businesses, old age pensioners. There’s something that you don’t like rich people, obviously.

"Will Sir Keir Starmer fight for our hard-working farmers? Will this Labour group in front of us support this motion and stand shoulder to shoulder with our hard-working farmers?"

Opposition Labour Cllr Zoe McGhee argued back: "Cllr Evelyn spoke really well on this motion from the perspective of his residents, so if you'll indulge me I'd like to do the same. The previous Conservative government introduced so-called austerity which exacerbated the financial trauma of my residents, decimated their youth services, turned their lights off.

"It's a bit divisive, but I'm going to say it because I believe it- if this new Labour government, rather than hitting our most vulnerable residents, wants to tax the rich, I can live with that."

However, Conservative councillor for Corby Rural, Kevin Watt, said Labour had made clear their "whack-a-mole attitude to the rich", forgetting the people on the cusp of proposals.

"There’s an assumption here that farms are awash with cash- it’s very expensive running a farm. These families are custodians of our countryside, and what you’re expecting is for them to sell off 20 per cent of their business.

"This really is just one of the continued attacks on what are perceived as rich people, but they are the people that are the backbone of this country."

Conservative councillor and executive member Matt Binley said that what he had heard of the opposite benches in the debate confirmed his suspicions that the new farmers' tax amounted to a "class war".

He added: "They feel that taxing the farmers in this way is taxing the rich- it’s not.

"This is a typical socialist mentality of going take anything away from someone they think has got something and give it away to other people, forgetting that these farmers in North Northamptonshire are hard-working people and people who are struggling to make ends meet. If you don’t want to vote in favour of [the motion] you’re just being cowards."

Following the heated discussion, 38 members voted to support the motion, while seven were against and three abstained.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs for the Countryside Alliance said:

“We would like to thank the overwhelming number of councillors that backed this important motion. North Northamptonshire now adds its heavy weight to the growing list of councils opposing the family farm tax. The family farm remains the backbone of rural communities and they are also central to the public vision of the British countryside. Rachel Reeves should listen to the experts and reverse this policy before it’s too late”.

Meanwhile on the same day, a vote held at the London Assembly on a motion to oppose the family farm tax was narrowly defeated.

Proposed by Conservative London Assembly Member Susan Hall, the motion called on mayor Sadiq Khan and the Greater London Authority to lobby the Labour government to reinstate 100% reliefs under agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR).

Following passionate speeches in favour of the motion by Assembly Members Georgiou, Hall, Turrell and Roberts it was sadly defeated 10 votes to nine in favour, with the Greens and Labour voting against and the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Reform representatives voting for.

Upcoming votes taking place at other councils include Cheshire East (Wednesday 11 December), Cheshire West (Thursday 12 December) and Suffolk (Thursday 12 December). A motion is expected to be introduced In Portsmouth in the coming days.