00:00A legal challenge to farm inheritance tax reforms began on the 17th of March in the High Court, with farmers
00:08and business owners rocking up in tractors, arguing the government acted unlawfully by failing to properly consult on sweeping changes.
00:18The two-day judicial review at the Royal Courts of Justice in London will examine whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves should
00:26have conducted a full public consultation before altering agricultural property relief and business property relief as well.
00:36Well, today's really about fairness. As family farms, family businesses, we've really struggled with the latest changes, but we believe
00:45that the government didn't consult.
00:46They promised to consult with any major changes, and we don't believe they've done that. We're asking the court today
00:51to agree with us to state that.
00:54These are clearly big changes. They're already examples of farmers refusing cancer treatment. There's one sad suicide as well. So
01:02these are not minor changes. They're not rearranging things.
01:05This is a major change, and we believe the government promised to consult on that and have failed to do
01:11so.
01:11That affects my family business. My dad won't be able to pass it on to me as it is. Our
01:17profit margins in farming are between 0.5% and 1%, so we really struggle with that, and an added
01:22tax will be the end for us, for our business, and for many other businesses.
01:27Farming as an industry, we're very interrelated. We rely on other parts of the sector to be succeeding, and if
01:33we start to have businesses failing, the whole sector fails. So it's really important today.
01:38Labour have already u-turned on their tax reforms, upping the threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million. The
01:47tax changes will come into effect from April, but some farmers and Conservatives are doing everything they can to reverse
01:54the decision.
01:56Well, this is just one part of the long-standing campaign to get the government to stop this vindictive family
02:04farm and family business tax.
02:05We Conservatives fought against this from the very moment it was announced, because we understand just how much it will
02:12kill the farming industry, but also the wider family business community up and down the country.
02:17I see it in my own constituency in Lincolnshire, where, you know, the bedrock of our rural economy are our
02:23family businesses.
02:24And this tax, as a former Treasury Minister, to hear that ministers have not conducted a proper consultation on this
02:32tax is very, very unusual.
02:35And so I'm supporting the claimants today in this case, but of course the whole farming industry in their efforts
02:44to stop this tax.
02:46We've only got a couple of weeks left. I appreciate that. We Conservatives have forced seven votes on this government
02:51to try and stop them in their tracks.
02:53They made a partial U-turn. That will help some farms. There are many, many farms and businesses. It will
02:59not help.
02:59Thank you very much.
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