MP’s Call For Chancellor To Reconsider Plans To Change Agricultural Property Relief

Northern Ireland MP’s have called on the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reconsider the proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief that was announced in the latest Autumn Budget.

Since 1984, Agricultural Property Relief has allowed land used for crops or raising animals, as well as farm buildings, cottages and houses, to be exempt from any inheritance tax.

However, from April 2026, it will only apply to the first £1 million of the estate with anything over that value taxed at 20%, half the usual rate.

I’ll Have An Incredible Tax Bill To Pay

Many farmers in Northern Ireland are up in arms about these proposed changes and are planning demonstrations. Farmer Martin Cunningham is one farmer who could be affected by these changes, here is what he said on the subject, as copied from an article on the BBC News website:

“If this (his families farm) farm’s handed down to me, I’ll have an incredible tax bill to pay,” Mr Cunningham said.

“I’ll have to sell land in order to pay that, I’m going to have to sell land over the value of £200,000,” he said.

“It’s not simple to sell land up here, it’s either all or nothing.”

The prospect of a six-figure bill has him worried.

“I don’t know how we could ever raise that money,” Mr Cunningham said.

“I currently have a full-time job, and my dad farms here himself,” he said.

“I don’t know how we could afford to pay a tax bill, pay off our debt and continue to farm. It just doesn’t make sense anymore.”

Mr Cunningham says like many farmers, his family have constantly invested in the farm.

“We have been crippled with debt this last few years, increasing our cattle numbers, increasing our land, improving our land and building new buildings, it’s been a real big bill for us to get over,” he said.

“So while we’re still in debt, we’ve been adding to the value, and therefore now it seems that we have given ourselves a tax bill.”

The Net Profit Per Year Is Peanuts

Farmer Ian Buchannan, who has a farm outside Dungiven, County Londonderry, is also quoted in the article, saying:

“The return we get on an investment on a farm, say it is worth one million or two million pounds, whatever the farm value is, it is well known that the return on that is 0.5% net profit per year – which is peanuts,” he said.

“60%-80% of all farm income over the last 10 years in Northern Ireland comes from subsidies.

“Farms are like parcels that are passed down; you don’t open it but you just pass it on – farms are not generally sold unless a [family] line dies out,” Mr Buchannan said.

“This is incredibly tough for a lot of farmers and I do feel there is a lot of mental stress within the community.

“I have a passion for farming. It’s all I know. It’s all I want to know,” he said.

“Feeding the country is what we’re all about to the highest standard in the world, and it’s going to finish in one generation.”

Let us hope that the Chancellor heeds these words from our farmers. Farming is a huge part of the landscape here in Northern Ireland and we need to nurture it and give it the chance to prosper.