Delay inheritance tax changes until 2027, ministers urged
A report by the cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee has said that a pause in the implementation of these reforms 'would allow for better formulation of tax policy and provide the government with an opportunity to convey a positive long-term vision for farming.'
It would also protect vulnerable farmers who would have 'more time to seek appropriate professional advice," they said.
MPs praised the government's commitments to backing British produce and supporting farmers, but are concerned that 'high-profile policies have been announced prior to the completion and publication of the strategies and reviews that Defra says will inform and guide its vision.'
They have raised concerns that changes announced in the autumn budget last year were made without adequate consultation, impact assessment or affordability assessment. This means that the impact of the changes 'on family farms, land values, tenant farmers, food security and farmers in the devolved administrations' is 'disputed and unclear' with a risk of producing unintended consequences.
The report added that the reforms threaten to affect the most vulnerable and that the government should consider alternative measures.
Read more: UK economy grows 0.7% in first quarter of the year
It comes as a new survey of UK farmers that found that before the budget 70% felt optimistic about the future of their rural businesses, but that number fell to 12% after the chancellor's statement.
Meanwhile, 84% of farmers felt that their mental health has been affected, with farmers citing the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) closure and changes to inheritance tax reliefs as the common areas creating concern.
The committee supports the government's aim of reforming APR and BPR to close the loophole which allows wealthy investors to buy agricultural land to avoid inheritance tax, but notes that stakeholders and experts have proposed several alternative ways to reform these taxes so as to achieve this objective without harming small family farms, and asks the government to consult on these proposals before publishing its Finance Bill in 2026.
The EFRA committee is calling on the government to publish its evaluation of and rationale for following or not following alternative policy measures presented by stakeholders such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the National Farmers Union (NFU).
It also warned that the sudden closing of the SFI 'affected trust in the government' and 'left many farmers without the funding they expected and at risk of becoming unviable in the period before the next scheme is introduced'.
The government has since announced it will allow SFI applications that were in progress within two months of 11 March to progress with restrictions.
The committee is also urging for an alternative funding mechanism to be put in place no later than September 2025, to fill the gap in funding for those who missed out on the SFI 2024.
MPs said the government should set out, in their response to this report, what the next iteration of SFI will look like and the date it will be open for applications.
In January, Defra announced its plans to publish a 25-year Farming Roadmap. MPs say that in this, 'the government should urgently set out its vision for the farming sector, achieving food security and the future of the Farming and Countryside Programme.'
The report says: 'The 25-year Farming Roadmap should bring together Defra farming policy and programmes into a single vision outlining how they will work together to achieve measurable outcomes for food security and the environment.'
Alistair Carmichael MP and chair of the EFRA committee, said: 'The Committee has taken its work extremely seriously in developing this report and in agreeing our findings. There is an opportunity here to rebuild trust and confidence in the farming sector and I hope that the government will take our recommendations seriously.
Read more: Eurozone economic growth weaker than expected amid Trump's tariff turmoil
'The way in which the government has behaved over recent months has clearly negatively affected the confidence and wellbeing of farmers. Changes to APR and BPR in the autumn budget, the sudden closure of the Capital Grants scheme in November 2024, and the abrupt ending of SFI applications in March have all led farmers to feel that they cannot rely on the government to live up to its commitments.
"The government, however, seems to be dismissing farmers' concerns and ignoring the strength of feeling evidenced in the months of protests that saw tractors converge on Westminster and up and down the country.
'We have seen that Defra's communications with farmers have been poor, with confusing and sometimes contradictory messaging. There has been a lack of adequate consultation. Policies affecting farmers have been announced without due consideration or explanation of their impact or their rationale.
'Farmers ought to be the essential element in the government's plans both to achieve food security and to restore and protect the environment. When they make decisions for their businesses, farmers have to plan for the long term — but the landscape they are operating in currently is unclear.
Farmers urgently need clarity, certainty and advance notice of changes — they cannot be expected to rethink their businesses on a whim. It is essential that Defra focuses on rebuilding trust through good-faith communications with the sector.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Zelensky Ally Says He Hopes JD Vance Not at Trump Meeting
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's upcoming return to the White House will likely go smoother if Vice President JD Vance does not attend, a senior Ukrainian official has said. The Ukrainian leader's now-infamous trip to the White House in late February saw Zelensky berated by President Donald Trump and the vice president in front of the world's cameras. The visit was a dip in already strained relations between Kyiv and the Trump administration, a hideous diplomatic moment Ukrainian officials have been keen to rectify as U.S. efforts to reach a deal to end the fighting grind on. It will be better for the Ukrainian delegation if Vance is not present for Monday's meeting, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee and a member of Zelensky's Servant of the People party, told Newsweek. The February Oval Office meeting saw Vance "provoking" the Ukrainian leader, Merezhko said. Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, as President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 28, 2025. Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, as President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 28, 2025. AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov, File) In among various barbed exchanges, Vance told Zelensky: "Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your country." Zelensky "learned his lesson" from February, and will aim to strike a diplomatic and respectful tone, Merezhko said. The Trump administration is less likely to "bully him again" if the Ukrainian leader is joined by Ukraine's European allies, Merezhko added. A number of Europe's heads of state have confirmed they will make the journey to Washington for the meeting at the White House with Zelensky, including British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron. Finnish President Alexander Stubb may attend, Politico reported on Sunday. The Finnish leader has bonded with Trump over a shared love of golfing while leading a country with a significant land border, and apprehension toward, Russia. Also expected to attend are Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has pieced together a close relationship with Trump while corralling Europe toward unity. Europe has jostled hard to maintain relevance in U.S.-brokered peace talks over Ukraine, looking on with nervousness at the apparent reluctance of the current administration to punish Russia or leverage significant concessions from Moscow despite its threats to do so. European leaders met virtually with Zelensky and Trump ahead of the Republican's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, reiterating that Ukraine should be involved in negotiations and that international borders should not be changed by force. The issue of which territory Russia and Ukraine will control in a ceasefire agreement has been one of the biggest obstacles to a deal to end the fighting. Russia annexed Crimea, the peninsula to the south of mainland Ukraine, in 2014, and backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine that are collectively known as the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland. In fall 2022, after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in the February, Russia declared Donetsk and Luhansk as annexed territory now part of Russia, along with the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. While Russia controls the vast majority of Luhansk, Ukraine retains its grip on about a quarter of Donetsk and of much of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russia's claim to these regions is not internationally recognized. The Kremlin has positioned its territorial demands as a key sticking point in negotiations. Kyiv has repeatedly said it will not reward Russia's invasion with territory, and to cede these areas would go against the country's constitution. After the Anchorage summit, Trump told European leaders that he backed a plan in which Ukraine would cede territory it still controlled to Russia, The New York Times reported, citing two senior European officials. Reuters reported that Russia had said it would offer slivers of land it currently controls in Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding chunks of land in the east that Russia does not currently control, citing sources briefed on the Kremlin's thinking. Under the proposal, Ukraine would fully withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk, with the current front lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the south frozen in place, according to the report. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Sunday that despite the Alaska summit yielding no deal, Ukraine would have "Article 5-like" protections to ward off any future attempt by Russia to attack its neighbor. Article 5 is the provision in NATO's founding treaty that means that an attack on any member country in the alliance is treated as an attack on all. It is not clear how the arrangement Witkoff referred to would work. Ukraine has consistently said it needs security guarantees, and not to be bound by any limits on the size of its military. Kyiv also wants to be on the path to NATO and European Union membership. Russia wants Ukraine to be a neutral state. Expectations are low for the Monday meeting, Merezhko said. "You cannot reconcile them," he said, referring to the Ukrainian and Russian demands. "Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done," Trump told Fox News following the Alaska summit. "I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit."
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
The rizz kid: How a campus Communist turned conservative kingmaker put the ‘social' in ‘social movement'
Gen Z calls it 'rizz.' Conservative theorist Frank Meyer radiated it. Rizz is what Donald Trump exudes and Kamala Harris lacks, and this je ne sais quoi quality, at least to all who came before Gen Z brilliantly put a name on it, explains not just one's success on Hinge but whether a political figure can pull a crowd. Advertisement Marble-mouthed mumblers and shoegazers take note: It turns out people follow the very individuals in mass movements they follow around in social situations. Frank Meyer's 3D, pops-off-the-page life illustrates this truth. After the Newark-born Meyer acted as the pied piper of campus Communism in 1930s England, he remarkably became in America during the 1960s, as the title of my new biography puts it, the man who invented conservatism. Advertisement British intelligence conducted a black-bag job on his apartment, placed a mail cover on his correspondence and noted the bars he frequented, the tweed he wore and the frequent female company he kept as they tailed him. Nowhere in the 161 pages of the declassified Meyer files do agents memorialize on paper that the revolutionary they followed — described therein as 'the founder' of the student Communist movement — dated the big boss' daughter. The most Frank Meyer thing Frank Meyer ever did was enter into a relationship with Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's youngest child as he conspicuously called for the violent overthrow of the British government the man led. Che, Lenin and Mao never pulled off such a brash caper. 'Come here at 7.0 — or if you don't like the idea of Downing Street — even though I am the sole occupant at the moment — fix any other place you like,' Sheila MacDonald wrote Meyer in one of their letters I discovered in an Altoona, Penn., warehouse during research for 'The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer,' out Aug. 19. Predictably, the British government sought to deport Meyer (and, predictably, Miss MacDonald volunteered to intervene). The same rizz that placed the prime minister's daughter in his arms brought a phalanx of famous Brits to his defense. Advertisement Clement Attlee, future prime minister, pleaded his case in Parliament. A petition signed by philosopher Bertrand Russell, 'Howards End' and 'A Passage to India' author E.M. Forster and Labour Party leader (and Angela Lansbury's grandfather) George Lansbury called the deportation 'discrimination' prompted by the cause célèbre's 'left-wing politics.' Students marched about London chanting, 'Free Frank Meyer!' Women desired his romantic attention. Rizz meant men wanted his company, too. In 1930, an unknown Pottstown, Penn., prep-school teacher plaintively petitioned Meyer for more 'scintillating conversations' and 'provocative' letters. He wished to again drink with Meyer and 'to take a Cook's Tour of this particular part of the world with you.' Without Meyer's company, he confessed, he inhabited an 'intellectual desert.' The sycophantic missive came from the typewriter of James A. Michener long before he won a Pulitzer Prize for 'Tales of the South Pacific.' Advertisement By 1949, when Meyer testified against former comrades in the Foley Square trial — the longest, most expensive court case in US history to that point — he had witnessed much evil. He knew that Prince Mirsky, the force who pushed him to join the Communist Party, had disappeared in a Soviet gulag; his protégé, Charles Darwin's great-grandson John Cornford, had died fighting in the Spanish Civil War; his boss on 'peace' activism, Walter Ulbricht (who later built the Berlin Wall), went about making the lives of East Germans hell; and his American idol, longtime party chief Earl Browder, had transformed overnight in Communist rhetoric from a brilliant, courageous leader into a perfidious enemy of the people. Slowly, he embraced a very different outlook. Quickly, and characteristically, the conservative convert became conservative pope. Present at the creation of National Review, the Conservative Party of New York, the Philadelphia Society, the American Conservative Union and Young Americans for Freedom, Meyer helped erect the skeletal structure of the conservative movement. Going to Woodstock meant something very different for 1960s young conservatives. Those making the obligatory pilgrimage to his farmhouse there included Joan Didion, who credited him as the editor who first published her freelance work, Garry Wills, who said he spent more time with this mentor in the late 1950s and early 1960s than anyone outside his family, and Heritage Foundation founder Ed Feulner. His philosophy, fusionism, became the default outlook of the American right from Barry Goldwater well through Ronald Reagan, who cheered that Meyer had 'fashioned a vigorous new synthesis of traditional and libertarian thought — a synthesis that is today recognized by many as modern conservatism.' What made conservatives so easily follow a former Communist? Rizz. Those doubting the power of rizz may wish to apply this test to every presidential election in their lifetimes: Did the winning candidate also win the rizz contest? Advertisement Undertaker-face John Kerry lost to George W. Bush in 2004. John McCain, who looked like he walked off the set of a black-and-white television show, lost to Technicolor Barack Obama in 2008. Monotone Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter with his ear-to-ear grin and mellifluous diction in 1976. And a fist-in-the-air, 'Fight'-shouting Donald Trump — far from the cranky, complaining COVID case of 2020 — triumphed over word-salad chef Kamala Harris in 2024. Frank Meyer understood the power of rizz long before Twitch streamer Kai Cenat popularized the term. They don't call them social movements for nothing. Daniel J. Flynn is the author of 'The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer' (Encounter/ISI Books), an American Spectator senior editor and Hoover Institution visiting fellow.
UPI
2 hours ago
- UPI
7 European leaders to join Zelensky in White House meeting Monday
1 of 2 | European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday. Photo by Olivier Hoslety/EPA Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Seven European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday in a bid to end the war against Russia. Zelensky and Trump announced the meeting on Saturday. On Sunday, it was disclosed they will be joined by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Zelensky last saw Trump in the White House on Feb. 23. During the contentious meeting, Trump accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War III" and being "disrespectful" to the United States. Plans for a cease-fire and a news conference were called off. Two months later, the two leaders met amicably when they went to the funeral for Pope Franic at the Vatican on April 26. Zelensky and von der Leyen met in Brussel, Belgium, on Sunday, joining a "coalition of willing," who are Ukraine's main European allies, in a video conference. European leaders on Saturday signed a joint statement that, "as President Trump said, 'there's no deal until there's a deal.' As envisioned by President Trump, the next step must now be further talks, including President Zelenskyy, whom he will meet soon." In addition to the attendee's of Monday's meeting in Washington, the statement was signed by European Council President Antonio Costa and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The leaders of the Nordic-Baltic Eight -- Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden -- said in a statement that there should be "no decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine and no decisions on Europe without Europe." Trump posted Sunday morning on Truth Social "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED." Minutes earlier, he also criticized the media in two posts, writing that "if I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal. That's why they are the FAKE NEWS! Also, they should talk about the 6 WARS, etc., I JUST STOPPED!!! MAGA." Earlier, he wrote that "it's incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me. There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me. I had a great meeting in Alaska on Biden's stupid War, a war that should have never happened!!!" It had been more than 24 hours since he posted about the war in Ukraine. After speaking with Zelensky and European leaders following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska, he wrote that "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up." This stance shifted to an end to the 3 1/2-year-old war that began with Russia's invasion of the sovereign nation. Zelensky was not invited to the summit with the two leaders. CNN reported Trump told the Europeans he wants a summit among himself, Putin and Zelensky on Friday if talks go well on Monday with Ukraine's leader. Information from Putin and Trump has been light on details. They spoke to reporters for a total of 12 minutes and took no questions on Friday. They didn't mention whether Russia or Ukraine will give up land acquired during the war. The three-on-three meeting included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also is Trump's national security adviser, as well as Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. "The point was that we began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal," Witkoff said in an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. "We made so much progress at this meeting with regard to all the other ingredients necessary for a peace deal that we, that President Trump pivoted to that place." Putin spoke about "land swaps" during the meeting, Witkoff said. Witkoff said that Putin discussed land swaps during their meeting, but did not go into specifics beyond that Putin now suggesting swaps occur at the current front lines rather than the administrative boundaries of at least some of the regions. "The Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions," Witkoff said. "Hopefully, we can cut through and make some decisions right then and there." The Trump administration has said it is up to Zelensky to accept a deal, and noted that Zelensky has opposed land swaps. Trump told the European leaders that Putin insists Ukraine allow Russia to totally control the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine where intense fighting has taken place since 2022, two sources told The New York Times. In exchange, he would freeze the current front lines elsewhere in Ukraine -- the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- and promised not to attack Ukraine again or other European nation. Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from Donetsk, which represents 30% of the eastern region. Russia had partially seized the Donbas in 2014 when the nation annexed the Crimean peninsula and captured key areas of the region in 2022. Witkoff also said Putin agreed to allow a collective defense provision for Ukraine in a peace deal. For the first time, Witkoff said Putin offered a version of NATO's Article 5 provision -- that the groups members will come to the defense of an ally under attack -- with Ukraine, but without involvement from NATO. "We got to an agreement that the United States and other European nations could effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee," Witkoff said on CNN. "Putin has said that a red flag is NATO admission," Witkoff said. And so what we were discussing was assuming that that held, assuming that the Ukrainians could agree to that and could live with that - and everything is going to be about what the Ukrainians can live with - but assuming they could, we were able to win the following concession that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection." Putin hasn't spoken directly about aspects of a possible peace deal. Zelensky thanked the European nations' support since the beginning of the war in February 2025, and said "sanctions show we are serious." "We need real negotiations, which means they can start where the front line is now," Zelensky said at a news conference with the EU's von der Leyen. "The contact line is the best line for talking [...] Russia is still unsuccessful in Donetsk region. Putin has been unable to take it for 12 years, and the Constitution of Ukraine makes it impossible to give up territory or trade land. "Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia and the trilateral Ukraine-United States-Russia. So far, Russia gives no sign that trilateral will happen, and if Russia refuses, then new sanctions must follow." Zelensky said he wanted more clarity on the "security guarantees" from Trump. Unlike Trump, Zelensky has urged a ceasefire before a peace deal. "First we have to stop the killings," Zelensky said. "Putin has many demands, but we do not know all of them, and if there are really as many as we heard, then it will take time to go through them all. "It's impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons. So it's necessary to cease-fire and work quickly on a final deal. We'll talk about it in Washington. Putin does not want to stop the killing, but he must do it," the Ukrainian president said. Von der Leyen, noting Ukraine must become a "steel porcupine, undigestible for potential invaders," said there must be no limitations on Ukraine's military. "We must have strong security guarantees to protect both Ukraine and Europe's vital security interests. Ukraine must be able to uphold its sovereignty and its territorial integrity," she said. Situation in Ukraine Russia continued aerial attacks overnight with five people dead and at least 11 injured in Ukraine's Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson regions, local authorities said. Russia launched 60 long-range drones and one ballistic missile, according to Ukraine's Air Force, as 40 other drones were downed by Ukrainian defenses. Russia's Ministry of Defense said 46 drones were intercepted from Ukraine. One person was injured in Russia's Voronzh region from debris, the local governor said. In central Kyiv at a market, the BBC reported few people were hopeful about the meeting on Monday. "The signs don't tell us about good expectations for tomorrow," said 35-year-old Iryna Levchuk while picking fruit and with her dog Susy, rescued from the frontline city of Kherson. Regarding a land swap, Dmitril said: "This won't work -- none of this will work. You've got to explain to the people that they need to negotiate with the terrorists."
