A family farm near High Wycombe says the government has ‘let the country down’ by changing the inheritance taxes applied to farms in this week’s Budget.
Will Lacey, 36 and twin brother Ed are the seventh generation of their family to run Lacey's Farm in Lane End – a joint food production hub, farm shop and butchers founded back in 1936.
The business has a doggedly loyal customer base and a number of awards to its name – including Muddy Stilettos’ Best Farm Shop or Deli in the southeast – but no amount of local popularity will save it from the ‘disastrous’ effects of the government’s recent tax changes, according to Will.
In Wednesday’s Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a reform on inheritance tax applied to farms – increasing the amount paid by farms with assets over £1 million to 20 per cent.
The move has sparked widespread backlash from the farming community – with celebrity face of the industry Jeremy Clarkson describing it as a “shafting” from the government.
And Will said family-run enterprises like Laceys are especially vulnerable to the changes, which he described as “a disaster for farming and the rural community”.
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He also said around fifty per cent of Laceys’ farmland is rented from private owners – putting them in an unsecure position where “the food doesn’t reflect in the price of land”.
“Labour has let the country down. We saw the rumours suggesting this was going to happen, but it really is the worst-case scenario.
“Farms like ours provide food locally and manage 90 per cent of the British countryside. This change is devastating and I think it’s going to be the death of a lot of small farms.”
He also accused Labour of being “short-sighted” and having “no understanding of the rural economy”.
Adding: “There’s all this talk of England’s green and pleasant land, but the government needs to support the people who are doing that work.
“We can’t afford to pay twenty per cent tax on an asset for someone else’s value. A lot of farms won’t have the cash to pay for that.
“Farming is very different to any other industry – most people don’t get paid anywhere near the minimum wage and the only real benefit was that inheritance tax support.
“It’s also different because you can cope without a lot of other jobs, but not this one. I can’t say it enough – this does the opposite of supporting small farming businesses."
Other outspoken voices against the inheritance tax change have included Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire Greg Smith, who described the Budget as a “full-frontal financial attack on our farmers” in the House of Commons on Thursday.
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