27-05-2025
Reeves's vindictive attacks on business will cost us all
Passions were running high at the Opposition Day debate in Parliament last week. 'This socialist Government does not want people to succeed,' said Andrew Griffith, the shadow trade and business secretary.
'There could be no better example of that than the vindictive family business and family farm death tax, which will carve up successful businesses as and when they are handed down to the next generation,' he added.
With one of the 17 parliamentary days allocated to the party as the official opposition, the Conservatives elected to hold a debate on business and the economy, calling on the Government to urgently reverse measures such as the business property relief (BPR) reforms to support family businesses and other enterprises which 'take risks to create wealth and jobs that benefit people across the country'.
BPR reforms have elicited strong emotions since they were announced by the Chancellor last year. Now family businesses have the data to support the claim that the policy is already having a chilling effect on the entire economy.
Earlier this year, a report by Family Business UK, a not-for-profit organisation advocating for the industry, found that 23pc of family businesses and 17pc of family farms had already cut jobs or paused recruitment in response to the BPR and agricultural property relief (APR) reforms coming into effect next year.
It predicted that the changes would result in more than 208,000 jobs being lost by the end of the current parliament, ultimately delivering a net loss of £1.9 billion to the Treasury by 2029.
'Our members tell us, and our sector research shows, that decisions are being taken now to cut jobs, reduce investment and sell assets, putting at risk the future of thousands of businesses,' said Fiona Graham, of Family Business UK.
'The changes to BPR and APR are having an immediate impact on family-owned enterprises, threatening not just their future but the livelihoods of working people and communities right across the country who depend on them,' she added.
Playing fast and loose with jobs
Georgiana Bristol, chief executive of the Jobs Foundation, told me the Government needed to act fast if the worst impact of the policy was to be mitigated.
Speaking from her experience heading the charity, which promotes the role of businesses in creating jobs and sustaining communities, Ms Bristol expressed concern that decisions family firms were being forced to make could not easily be undone in four years' time, particularly if they involved, for example, selling a part of the business to insure it against future tax bills.
In a crowded field of ideologically driven economic policies that have backfired on the Treasury, the BPR reforms stand out as particularly prejudiced.
Campaigners claim no impact assessments were carried out, nor were any consultations held with the very diverse group of businesses affected by the policy – from family law practices to garden centres to petrol stations.
For a Chancellor grappling with an astronomical welfare bill coupled with chronic joblessness, playing fast and loose with stable jobs which sustain local communities, by targeting an especially driven group who are proven job creators, does indeed seem 'vindictive'.
'Running or investing in a business at its core,' said Mr Griffith in the Commons last week, 'is a profound act of human courage – the triumph of optimism over inertia'.
That is sadly not a quality that the Chancellor or the Treasury are prepared to countenance.
