Senior Labour politicians have continued to play down concerns from farmers about new inheritance tax rules, which are due to take effect from April 2026. On Tuesday, Environment Secretary Steve Reed said it “was not unreasonable” to ask farmers to “pay their fair share” of inheritance tax.

“They are only being asked to pay at half the rate of other businesses. Instead of paying in one go, they can pay it off over 10 years,” the Labour MP said.

Similarly, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared to a dismiss a new report from a cross-party committee of MPs which called for the roll out of the policy to be paused.

The Labour leader stuck firmly to the party line that the new £1m limit on agricultural and business property relief for inheritance tax will have a “very limited impact”.