Angela Rayner has criticised “scaremongering” over Labour’s reforms to inheritance tax on farms.
The deputy prime minister had to defend the government’s changes to the levy in a bruising House of Commons session, as she stood in for Sir Keir Starmer while the prime minister was away at a G20 summit.
It came a day after more than 10,000 farmers gathered in Westminster to protest against the announcement in last month’s budget.
Politics latest: Rayner faces hostile crowd
The government will reduce inheritance tax relief applied to farms from 6 April 2026. The full 100% relief will only apply to the first £1m of property. Above this amount, landowners will pay inheritance tax at a reduced rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40%.
Farmers will still benefit from reductions, with Labour saying that a “typical” couple handing their estate to their children can gift up to £3m tax-free, and then pay the 20% tax. They will also have 10 years to pay the charge, interest-free.
However, many in agriculture have criticised the decision, and political parties from across the spectrum questioned Ms Rayner on it.
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader and MP for St Albans in Hertfordshire, said farmers felt “betrayed” by the Conservative government and “lied to by Labour”.
Ms Rayner said she was “sorry” to hear that farmers were “distressed by what I would say is scaremongering around what the Labour Party is doing”.
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Alex Burghart, the shadow chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, was standing in for Kemi Badenoch – as it is convention for the leader of the Opposition to stand aside from Prime Minister’s Questions if the prime minister is away.
He asked Ms Rayner about a “typical, mid-sized, 360-acre” farm in Yorkshire – saying a family had spoken to their accountant and been told they could be liable to pay £500,000 in inheritance tax – equivalent to 12 years of profit.
The Tory MP added that the NFU is set to publish a report showing 75% of all commercial farms will fall above the threshold of paying inheritance tax.
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Political correspondent
From the outset, this session of PMQs had a distinct “the teacher is away” vibe.
It was rowdy, shouty and prickly.
Labour MPs chuckled as their opposite numbers loudly cheered Alex Burghart – the relatively unknown shadow minister standing in for Kemi Badenoch today.
Angela Rayner quickly reminded colleagues he was the “minister for growth” during Liz Truss’s disastrous spell in Downing Street, sparking whooping from the government benches.
Burghart responded by referencing the views of “city economists… real economists” – a stinging reference to a story around the chancellor changing her LinkedIn profile to remove an apparently erroneous reference to being an economist at Halifax Bank of Scotland before entering politics.
With his microphone frequently cracking and topping out, the shadow Cabinet Office minister zeroed in loudly on inflation and changes to inheritance tax for farmers.
Other Tory backbenchers and the Lib Dem deputy followed suit, seizing on the farming protests that engulfed Westminster yesterday.
It led to what may be the main news line from this session – as Angela Rayner accused critics of “scaremongering” over the impact of the agriculture changes.
There were reprimands from the Speaker as well, with one Labour backbencher told off and the Tory MP Danny Kruger admonished.
He bit back though, saying to the Speaker “are you talking to me? I haven’t opened my mouth” and gestured to colleagues behind to shift the blame.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle later apologised to Mr Kruger – saying his colleague James Wild had put his hand up to being the naughty Tory.
The Speaker warned the pair they should maybe not sit next to each other again.
An appropriately classroom-like exchange in a session where calm maturity was not always at the front of many minds.
Ms Rayner says she “stands by the figures” the government had previously laid out.
She said: “The vast majority of estate owners will see no change and pay no tax on land valued at £1m.
“Couples can pass on £3m tax-free, and those above the thresholds will pay only half the normal rate, and can pay over ten years interest-free.”
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Reform’s Lee Anderson also criticised the policy, and Conservative Saqib Bhatti asked Ms Rayner why Labour has “declared war on British farmers”.
Ms Rayner said the government “hasn’t declared war on farmers” – before reiterating her response on thresholds.
She also said Labour needed to raise money to account for the “£22bn black hole from the Conservatives”.
